A Stranger, A Suitor
by xmjcx
Summary: Bethyl 1800s AU. Beth Greene is heartbroken when her alcoholic father arranges for her to marry a man whom she has never met, the same way in which he has recently married off her older sister, Maggie. Will the pretty blonde be able to put all of her frustration aside and give the mysterious (and handsome) Mr Dixon a chance to win her heart? Rated M.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone!**

 **The idea for this story has been floating round my mind for a few days now and I'm still planning where I'm going to go with it, but the scenes wouldn't stop bouncing around my mind and I just HAD to get them written down before I drove myself insane.**

 **This story is set in the early 1800s and I'm still debating on whether to place it in America or England. I'm leaning closer towards America (you got me - Georgia) simply because that's where the canon characters are from, however I know a lot more about English history than I do American and that would probably mean that the story was more accurate with little details. I don't know though, I think I'll probably choose America in the end, but I'm still undecided so that's why I've not written much about the setting.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Beth was furious.

The feeling of anger consuming her was incredibly foreign, but Beth revelled in the strange emotion all the same. Her fingers were trembling as she gripped tightly to the dinner table and her heart was thrumming against her chest whilst her breathing came out in heavy and unsteady pants. Bath's expression was impassive except for the tears that were brimming in her light blue eyes, but she pushed and pushed and pushed them down, refusing to let them spill over her cheeks.

It had been such a long time since Beth had cried and despite the rage that was bubbling inside of her, Beth knew that she couldn't do anything to express her true emotions. Instead, Beth inhaled several long, deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself.

After all, it wouldn't do well to shame her father in front of all of the guests who were gathered at their table for dinner.

With that thought in mind, Beth tried her best to compose herself and after a few long moments she managed to offer her father a sweet smile. A few of the men at the table decided that this would be an appropriate time to congratulate Beth on the sudden yet exciting news of her surprise engagement. Beth made sure that she spoke some kind words of thanks to them when she felt that it was suitable for her to do so, even though all she wanted inside was to scream and shout and insist that this was anything _but_ good news.

When Mister Grimes (an old friend of her daddy's and one of the only men that Beth recognised at the table) raised his glass in a toast to the news - _"I'd like to propose a toast to Miss Bethany Greene, and wish her a happy marriage on the news of her engagement"_ \- it took all of her strength to pick up her own cup and smile at him. It struck her as amusing in a very satirical manner that someone who had been in her life since the day that she was born was unable to pick up on how uncomfortable she was in that moment. If any of the guests who were gathered around the table noticed the way in which Beth inadvertently flinched at the sound of the glasses when they clinked together, they didn't show it.

For the rest of the evening, Beth sat silently at the table until she was dismissed by her father. He had consumed more alcohol than usual and his words were so slurred they were becoming incoherent. Still, it wasn't for Beth to tell him when to stop and it was times like this when she missed her mother more than anything else. As she pushed herself away from her seat at the table and bid goodbye to her father's guests, Beth caught the eye of one of the workers, Patricia. She could almost guarantee that the older woman knew exactly what she was thinking and gave her a sympathetic look as she passed.

Instead of crumbling inwardly the way in which she thought that she might do, Beth jutted out her chin and held her head high as she left the room and made her way towards her quarters. Beth's legs were slightly shaky but she was proud that she managed to make her way to her room without so much as a stumble.

It was only when the lock of the bedroom door clicked into place that Beth allowed herself the opportunity to cry. It had been such a long time since she indulged in her sorrow and whilst her sobs started off small and muffled, they were soon causing her whole body to shake violently and she was covering her mouth with one of her hands in an attempt to quieten herself down. Her free hand was clutching tightly to one of the bed posts as to support her body weight and keep her standing tall and Beth was sure that without it, she would most definitely have caved in on the cool floor.

There wasn't any way that Beth could have been sure of just how long she was stood rooted on the spot for. She remained frozen in position long after the last of her tears had ran down her cheeks and it was only when there was a knock on her bedroom door that Beth made any effort to wipe her face. Her effort to hide the evidence of her crying was poor and Beth made no attempt to open the door to her room until she heard Patricia's voice flutter through from the other side of the wood.

"It's just me, ma'am," Patricia said. "If you open the door, I can come and help you let your hair down."

That was all that it took for Beth to shuffle closer towards the door and unlock it. Now that she thought about it, her head _was_ starting to hurt due to the way that her hair was pinned up so tightly. Still, Beth made no attempt to open the door for Patricia and she stood on the spot as the older woman tentatively pushed against the heavy wood and crept into Beth's room at a slow pace. Her eyes roamed over Beth's tear-stained cheeks before she diverted her gaze and busied herself with closing the door as quietly as she could and then locking it once again.

Patricia made no effort to say anything an an attempt to comfort Beth. In all truthfulness, the younger woman was pleased for it. Although Patricia and her husband Otis had worked for the Greene's for as long as Beth could recall, the woman still wasn't her mama and it wasn't her place to comment on Hershel's plans in the same way that it also wasn't Beth's place to, either.

If this was what her father wanted form her, then this was what she would do - even if her heart did break at the thought of marrying a stranger.

Perhaps she had been naive to think that this day wasn't coming for her anytime soon. After all, Hershel Greene was a well-known character in town, and most people knew of him if not for his lands, but for his two young daughters. As the eldest of the two girls, it had been Maggie who had been wed to a suitor first. Their father had arranged for his eldest to marry Shane Walsh, a wealthy man who had a few years on Maggie, but who seemed like a good choice for a husband nonetheless.

When it became clear that Maggie would have no choice but to move away to live with her husband in a town several hours away, Beth had been heartbroken. After all, her sister had _always_ been her best friend and the two had relied on each other more than anything after their mama had passed. Beth wasn't sure that she would ever be as close to another person as she was to Maggie and even though her sister had been gone for several weeks now, the days still weren't getting much easier for Beth.

Still, no matter how sad she was that she had first lost her mother and now her sister, Beth couldn't blame her father for it the same way that she couldn't blame Mister Walsh. As his wife, Maggie had a duty to him and that meant that when he had to leave, so did she. In the same way, Shane had a duty to Maggie as her husband to provide for her. It had been work - more so the lack of it - that had driven him away from town, and Beth thought to herself that if her sister had to leave for any reason at all, then that reason was plenty good enough.

Once Patricia had finished with her hair and helped untie her corset, Beth dismissed her and insisted that she would be more than able to get herself into her nightclothes. Patricia looked at her with an uncertain expression for a long few seconds and had hovered in between Beth's bed and the bedroom door before she finally nodded her head in agreement and left with a simple _"goodnight, ma'am."_ When she was ready for bed, Beth made sure to lock her door before she crawled under the sheets.

It took much longer than it usually did for Beth to settle on the mattress and even longer for her to finally drift off to sleep. For quite some time, Beth found herself lay on her back staring at the ceiling, unanswered questions of how many more night she had left of sleeping in her own bed, of living in her daddy's house, of enjoying her own company.

Soon - and probably much sooner than she would like - Beth was going to be married to a man that she had never even met before and living in a house that she had never set foot in, either. At that house, there would be no more Patricia to help her dress or assist with her hair. There would be no more long rides over her father's land whenever she felt inclined to get away with her horse, Nelly. Beth tried to reassure herself that there would probably be other workers and horses in her new home - after all, Hershel would never marry off one of his daughter's to a man who was without money.

Still, it would never be same.

Beth could only hope that her husband would not make her leave town the same way that Shane had done with Maggie because more than anything, Beth couldn't stomach the thought of leaving her father alone on the farm. He was barely able to look after himself and function well with her here - Beth dreaded to think what would happen if she were to leave.

* * *

Sleep finally came over her in what had to be the early hours of the morning, and Beth could hardly make out the sounds of the men laughing loudly from the dining room. Beth slept in later than she normally did and she awoke to the sound of frantic knocking at her bedroom door. She shot up in bed at the sound and rubbed her eyes sleepily before throwing the covers back and padding over to the door quickly.

As Beth had expected in her sleepy state, the knocking at the door was caused by a concerned-looking Patricia.

"Ma'am," Patricia nodded as she gave Beth's tired appearance a once-over before she stepped into the bedroom. Beth shut the door behind her and followed her further into the room, sitting herself down on the edge of the bed once Patricia had made it back up for her.

"We best hurry," Patricia said as she scurried around the bedroom, drawing open the curtains and quickly wiping over the surfaces of Beth's drawers. "We don't have much time before Mister Dixon arrives."

The unfamiliar name caught Beth's attention, and her head snapped up from where she had been tugging at the hem of her nightshirt to make eye contact with the older woman.

"Mister Dixon?" Beth questioned, her voice uncertain.

Deep down, Beth already knew who it was that Patricia was talking about. Her father had probably mentioned his name the night before, although Beth couldn't quite remember it. In fact, she didn't really remember anything other than the anger and hurt that she had felt at the time. Those bitter emotions were still residing in her chest, but they weren't quite as prominent as they had been last night.

More than anything, Beth wished that her father would have spoken to her about his plans in a more private setting. He had placed her in an uncomfortable and awkward situation by announcing her engagement in front of all of their guests and even though Beth knew that she would forgive him for it, she still couldn't help but feel disappointed by his actions.

Beth had thought that he would at least discuss something like _marriage_ with her before he went and arranged the whole thing.

"Yes," Patricia said, not making eye contact with Beth as she pulled open some of her drawers and began to rummage through them. "Mister Dixon. Your fiance."

Beth nodded her head and didn't say anything else as Patricia continued to search through her drawers.

"What colour would you like to wear today, ma'am?" Patricia asked, and Beth just shrugged her shoulders non-enthusiastically in response.

Her movement caused Patricia to raise a brow and Beth was suddenly overcome with the childish urge to pout.

"Yellow," she decided with a sigh, and Patricia nodded her head before gathering Beth's things together and placing them on the bed beside her.

"We'll get you bathed first," Patricia said as she pulled out the different garments. "And then we'll do your hair once you're dressed. Would you like to have it down and curled?"

Beth nodded her head up and down in agreement with the suggestion before Patricia excused herself in order to draw up the bath. It was with a long sigh that Beth pushed herself up from where she was sat on the bed and went to gaze out of her bedroom window. Not for the first time in the last few hours, Beth wondered how much longer she had left on the farm.

"Your bath is ready," Patricia said as she re-entered the room. Beth made no attempt to move and Patricia cleared her throat, moving closer behind her. "Ma'am. Your bath is ready."

Beth finally turned her head towards her when Patricia placed her hand on her shoulder and Beth jumped in surprise at the contact. Neither of the women said anything to each other and Patricia settled on smiling kindly at Beth until she finally moved away from where she was stood at the window.

As poor as she was feeling, Beth reasoned with herself that she had to make the most of this situation. She didn't want to mope and feel sorry for herself despite the fact that she had always believed that her father would have arranged for her to marry for someone she at least knew of.

Beth thought that Hershel must have had a good reason to engage her so suddenly with this man and that was good enough for her. Besides, if her daddy thought that 'Mister Dixon' was a suitable choice of husband for her, then Beth would not disagree.

"I don't mean to rush you, ma'am," Patricia said, interrupting Beth from her thoughts. "But Mister Dixon will be here soon enough and we still have to curl your hair."

"Oh," Beth said, suddenly feeling very embarrassed by her distant behaviour. "I - of course. I'll be as quick as I can."

"Call for me if you need any assistance," Patricia said as Beth rushed into the washroom, not glancing behind her as she quickly stripped from her nightclothes and climbed into the steaming water.

 _You can do this,_ she told herself as she scrubbed her body clean with soap. _Daddy wouldn't make you do this without a good reason._

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 **Thank you for reading and please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Just a fair bit of warning; there is a super long AN at the end of this chapter that summarises more contextual issues with this story.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 _"There,"_ Patricia said once she had finished combing through Beth's curls.

The women were positioned at the dressing table in Beth's bedroom; Beth perched on a cushioned stool, Patricia stood behind her with a hairbrush in one of her hands. Beth's fair hair had been curled and it fell in waves down her back, tumbling towards her waist.

Unlike her sister's straight brown hair, Beth's blonde locks had a natural kink to them. It meant that it didn't take Patricia half as long to curl Beth's hair as it used to do Maggie's, and Beth was very glad for it - the process of pinning and curling was one that had always bored her from even a young age.

Beth had spent most of the session looking down at her hands, but her eyes darted up in the reflection at the sound of Patricia's voice. The woman sounded genuinely proud and pleased with her work, and Beth supposed that she had good reason to. It always amazed her how Patricia could make her change from the woman that she was when she awoke in the morning's to the woman that she was during the daytime; with a made-up face, neat and tidy hair and pretty clothes.

The young woman's light eyes shot up to meet Patricia's and Beth couldn't help but return the faint smile that the older woman was giving her as she ran her fingers through Beth's golden locks.

"You're ready," Patricia said as she locked eyes with Beth in the reflection of the mirror.

Beth thought on again about how much she would miss Patricia when her new husband made her leave her happy life here on her father's farm. The silly idea of sneaking Patricia with her when she moved entered her thoughts, and Beth stifled a laugh at the idea.

She wondered if her father would mind.

Beth pushed those thoughts away the same way that she pushed the wooden chair backwards against the floor. Patricia swiftly moved away from her and went to place the hairbrush back in it's correct drawer whilst Beth made a move to stand up. Patricia checked over everything in the room with a quick sweep-over of her eyes before she led the way towards the bedroom door, Beth gathering up her skirts as quickly as she could and following closely behind the older woman.

Before either of them could leave, Patricia quickly turned around on her heel and made eye contact with Beth, her hand still on the knob of the door. A long moment of silence passed between them whilst the women stared at each other, and Beth remained still as Patricia leaned forward from where she was stood and began to pull down on pieces of her dress as gently as she could.

Eventually, she stilled in her movements, and Beth supposed that Patricia must have been satisfied with her appearance.

"Your father will be waiting for you at breakfast," Patricia said.

Beth wondered if Patricia actually believed that statement. Hershel Greene was most likely nursing a severe hangover after his dinner party last night, and Beth would honestly be surprised if she saw him for most of the day. Sometimes, her father would disappear for days after his parties. Beth was always concerned about him, but she knew that it wasn't her place to go running around after him.

She was his daughter, not his wife or his worker; and her father would not appreciate it if he thought that she was meddling.

"He will be there, ma'am," Patricia said, her tone oozing confidence.

Patricia's eyes were serious as she spoke and never strayed from where they were locked on Beth's. Beth briefly wondered whether the older woman had educated herself on how to read Beth's mind.

"He will?" Beth questioned, wishing that her voice sounded stronger.

Patricia chose not to say anything to that and simply nodded her head once before she leaned closer to Beth once more, this time in order to smooth down the hair at the top of her head. Beth closed her eyes and enjoyed in the comforting feeling. She imagined that none of the women who worked for her betrothed would behave so affectionately towards her.

It was difficult not to be bitter when she thought about that, and Beth reasoned with herself that her good rapport with Patricia was probably down to the fact that the older woman had been a part of Beth's life since the day that she was born. Still, there was absolutely no doubt in Beth's mind that the woman was loyal to the Greene family in a way that her father's other employees were not, and that she genuinely loved them as though they were actually her family.

"Come now," Patricia said as she dropped her hand from Beth's head, tugging on the handle and opening the heavy door. She motioned with her hands for Beth to leave the room first. "You don't want to keep your father waiting, do you, ma'am?"

* * *

True to Patricia's word, Hershel was already sat at the head of the dining table when Beth arrived into the room. The table itself was long and narrow with plenty of seats to fit the many guests that her parents used to enjoy entertaining.

Her father still liked to keep up with the dinner parties; but they were usually filled with more men than women and alcohol and card games as opposed to food and dancing. Beth was pleased to see that her father was at least still socialising with other people after the death of her mother, but she was never too pleased to see him drinking.

The space in front of her father was empty and Beth was glad that her father had waited for her to arrive before he ate. This _must_ be an important day indeed.

"Bethy," he said as she made her way into the room.

As angry and upset as she was, Beth could not resist the urge to smile kindly at her father when he used her name so affectionately. Some of Beth's friends in town had father's who were not so kind to their daughter's, and Beth supposed that those girls who she had grown up with would probably think her to be quite lucky considering the only cruel thing that her father had ever done to her was arranging for her to become engaged to a stranger.

The pastel yellow dress that Beth was wearing was heavy against her slender frame as she walked towards her father, but Beth had mastered the art of wearing such attire a long time ago. Her mother had insisted that both of her daughter's were educated about how to carry themselves properly from a young age, and most of what Beth knew about propriety, she had been taught directly from her mother.

Annette Greene had never been one to shy away from work; no matter how much her father insisted that she shouldn't, and the woman made sure that her daughter's were more than well-prepared for when they eventually entered married life.

It broke Beth's heart to think that she would be married without her mother there to see it happen. Annette had married Hershel under much different circumstances to the ones that Maggie, and now Beth, found themselves in. Her parents had practically grown up together in this very town, and although their own parents had agreed for them to marry, Hershel and Annette were very much in love before it was even suggested that they were wed.

Perhaps Beth had been naive in hoping for a similar sort of arrangement for herself; but she knew in her heart that if her mother was still alive, then none of this would be happening.

But her mother wasn't alive.

Annette Greene was dead and gone and couldn't save her youngest child from this situation. Beth knew that she had a duty to her father; and soon, she would have a duty to her _husband,_ and she knew that it would not do any good to dwell on the past, or on what could have been. If her mother had been alive to see this day, then Beth knew that she would give her that very same advice - perhaps in more of a riddle than anything else, but it would have been there all the same.

"Sit down," Hershel said when Beth reached him at the end of the table.

Beth obliged and pushed away all of her negative thoughts about her situation and the way that her life was being planned around her as she sat herself down next to her father. No sooner had she shuffled herself into her seat did Otis emerge from the kitchen carrying two plates of toasted bread and a little bowl of butter. Beth had thought herself not to be very hungry, however the scent of the fresh bread was absolutely heavenly and it caused her stomach to rumble loudly.

Her father gave Beth a knowing yet amused look as the food was placed in front of them, and a ghost of a smile twitched at Beth's lips at his expression.

Another one of the workers - a woman named Karen who her father had only recently employed to assist in the kitchen so that Otis could spend more time with her father - followed into the room and placed two cups down in front of them. Karen rushed to pour some tea into both cups and both of the workers quickly excused themselves once her father confirmed that he had everything that he needed.

Breakfast was filled with a little bit of small talk until her father finally addressed the real reason as to why they were eating together that morning.

"Mister Dixon is due to arrive later on today," Hershel said as he finished off his bread.

Beth chose to sip on her tea slowly, suddenly remembering why she had not been feeling very hungry that morning.

"His journey here has been very long and tiring, and I expect that you will be understanding of this when you first meet."

Beth nodded her head to show her father that she was listening to what he was saying. In all truthfulness, Beth had plenty of questions to ask about _"Mister Dixon",_ but for the time being, she held her tongue.

"I have arranged with him for you to be married this weekend."

Her eyes widened at that, and her father's lips turned downwards at Beth's expression.

"The ceremony will be here in town, conducted by Father Gabriel himself. Once you are wed, you will be staying in the home that he owns not too far from here. I expect that you may not find life there to be as comfortable as it is here, but you must remember that Mister Dixon does not reside in this house permanently. I expect you to appreciate that it is very kind of him to agree to stay here in town for a little while whilst you both adjust to married life."

Beth nodded her head slowly, tucking a piece of hair behind hear ears as she contemplated everything that her father was saying. If she hadn't have been curious about her soon-to-be husband before, Beth most certainly was now. However, for all of the questions that she had about the mysterious man, Beth chose to only ask her father one.

"Where is it that Mister Dixon normally resides?" Beth asked.

There was a long moment of silence that seemed to stretch on forever whilst her father took a long sip of his tea. He placed his now-empty cup back in front of him and looked her dead in the eyes as he answered her question, no emotion on his face and his tone very matter-of-fact.

"America."

* * *

It took a lot for Beth not to cry that day.

More than anything, the young woman was shocked at the information. Her father's blunt answer had started and finished with that one word, and Beth found that she didn't have the energy to pester him with questions about the man that she would soon be marrying.

After all, she would have plenty of opportunity to ask Mister Dixon the questions herself, in person.

When they left to reside in his home.

In America.

 _America._

There was no way that Beth could be sure whether the man would want to leave to return back to his home; but she supposed that if the situation was reversed and it was her, she would most definitely want to go home. Beth imagined that her husband worked in America, too, and that he had his own life and family there - perhaps parents or siblings who were waiting on his return, eager to meet his new bride.

Beth honestly tried not to dwell on it all, but it was difficult not to. So many questions swirled around in her mind. Who was this man and what was it that he did for a living? How did he know her father and how had they come to arrange this marriage? Why on earth would he want to marry her, and how exactly would this marriage benefit the Greene family?

For now, Beth as just grateful that her soon-to-be husband had decided to live in town for a while, and she hoped that she would be able to see her sister one last time before he dragged her off to America with him. Beth wondered whether it was out of consideration for her feelings that he was choosing to stay in town after their wedding, or whether it was to do with a convenience for himself that was still unknown to her.

As much as she hoped it would be for the first reason; Beth could only assume that it was for the second, considering this man had never even met with her and so could not possibly know anything about her or what she would prefer to do. Still, Beth had a little hope in her heart that it was for the first reason. If she absolutely had to marry a stranger, she would be glad if it was going to be to a man who would at least take her emotions into account when making decisions.

* * *

Beth had heard the sound of the door creaking open and knew from the way that the footsteps fell against the hard floor that the intruder was Patricia. Still, Beth did not halt in her playing or singing until Patricia spoke up.

"Ma'am," Patricia called from the doorway.

Beth immediately stopped the piece that she was playing, her fingers jolting from the keys and her mouth snapping shut at the sound of Patricia's voice. Beth turned her head over her shoulder in order to see the woman, her expression kind as she waited for her to continue. Part of her almost expected Patricia to scold her for coming to this end of the house and playing when she knew that everyone was waiting for the arrival of her betrothed, but Beth was pleasantly surprised when the older woman didn't say anything about it.

Instead, Patricia chose to step a little bit further into the room, leaving the door that led out into the hallway slightly ajar as she did so. Beth blinked up at the older woman several times and shuffled on the piano bench so that her body was turned more in Patricia's direction. The older woman finally stopped when she was almost stood directly in front of Beth.

"Everyone is expecting you," Patricia said simply. Beth nodded her head, knowing what that meant before Patricia let out a little sigh and continued, her expression sympathetic. "Mister Dixon has arrived."

* * *

 **Okay, so here goes that mega long authors note that I warned you about at the beginning.**

 **I've decided to set this story in Ireland. I know I was thinking about England but I've read a few stories that indicate that the Greene's have Irish heritage (I don't know if they actually do - I'm not all that good with TWD character background knowledge sort of thing, so if anyone knows for sure then it would be much appreciated if you let me know! haha) so I decided to run with that one and set this in Ireland. Where Beth is from doesn't really impact this story much at all if I'm honest, but I thought that some of you might like to know, so yeah.**

 **The suggestion of moving to America was sent to me by jeanf and although I'm undecided on whether I would go through with it or not, I agree with some of the reviewers who are struggling to imagine Daryl with anything but a southern accent so that's why I decided to go with that story line. I hope it all makes sense so far and isn't confusing anyone.**

 **I wanted to explore Beth's thoughts about her marriage in this chapter before she actually meets Daryl and I hope I got the point across that she's mostly upset because she was hoping for more than a marriage like this. I've always seen Beth as a bit of a dreamer and even though this is a time where marrying for wealth/land/etc was still common, I personally think it would be very Beth-like to hope for a marriage that was based on love and I hope that you all agree with this too and that I managed to put that across well.**

 **And for those of you who have been asking - don't worry, I will reveal in due time why Hershel wanted his daughter to marry our favourite Dixon.**

 **Finally, I just want to say a quick thank you to everyone who has reviewed/followed/favourited this story so far. I was going to write this one just for myself and with my own original characters, but Bethyl won't leave me alone so I thought I would give this a shot. I'm pleased to hear so many people say they're excited for where I'm going to go with this fic and they love this pairing in a historical setting, so thank you for continuing to motivate me with this as I was admittedly a little unsure when I first published the last chapter** **.**

 **If you made it to the end of this, then congratulations. I don't have much to give you as a prize but if you let me know what you want I'll try and make it happen! Ha-ha. Really though, thanks for reading and please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm really thankful to everyone who has shown their support for this story so far, and I'm really sorry for the long AN at the end of this chapter... _again._ It's all about contextual stuff and talking about what has been written in this chapter anyway, so if you don't read it then you won't be missing much, I promise. Still, I would appreciate it if you did read it and gave me some feedback about the points that I made in it.**

 **Anyway, if not - then I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please remember to review and let me know what you think!**

* * *

On their way through the halls of the house, Patricia explained to Beth that her father was waiting patiently for her in the porch. Apparently, someone from town had arrived to inform Hershel that Mister Dixon was making his way over the land and that he would be there soon enough. Beth nodded her head quickly even though Patricia couldn't see her, suddenly feeling a bizarre rush of what she could only pinpoint as _excitement_ was coursing through her.

The emotion itself seemed very misplaced and Beth was not ashamed to admit to herself that she was surprised to find it within her. Still, Beth tried not to think too much on it as she hurried through the hallways at Patricia's heels; instead focusing on keeping her back straight and her head held high, just like her mother had taught her many years before.

Just as Patricia had said, Hershel was waiting in the porch for his daughter, stood staring at a painting on the wall with a cup of drink resting in his hand. He smiled at the sight of Beth entering in the room a few seconds after Patricia, and he placed his cup down onto the coffee table that was located in the corner of the room. Beth tried not to think much about the dark coloured liquid that swirled in the glass, but the strong and undeniable stench of liquor filled her nostrils as he made his way towards her.

In all of her life, Beth's father had never been unkind towards her - but still, she felt incredibly nervous that perhaps he would not be pleased with her disappearance into the music room. Hershel knew his daughter well enough and Beth was confident that he would have known where he could find her if he needed to - after all, everyone who knew the Greene's knew that Beth had a passionate love of music - but still, that didn't change the fact that Beth shouldn't have wandered off too far when her soon-to-be husband was due to arrive at the house at any time.

Beth shuddered at the thought of what would have happened if Mister Dixon would have arrived whilst she was nowhere to be found.

Her father may not have been as understanding then.

The older man took one of his daughter's small hands into his own and gently clasped at it, his happy smile never faltering. Beth had always been the one to play the role of the dutiful daughter much better than her sister Maggie did, and she had no plans on stopping with that now; especially not when she could see how happy this arrangement was making her father. Not when she could see how _proud_ he looked of her in that moment. Beth was almost certain that she hadn't seen her father smile so genuinely since Annette had passed away - not even when Maggie had married Mister Walsh all those months ago.

More than anything, Beth didn't want to be the reason that her father found sorrow in his heart and life once more. As perplexed as she was at his behaviour, Beth was no fool. She could see that the wedding of his youngest daughter was clearly something that was important to him, and as much as she wanted to ball her fists and kick her legs and scream and shout and cry in frustration, she didn't.

She couldn't.

She _wouldn't._

Hershel filled the initial silence with some small talk - asking Beth about the pieces that she had been practicing and listening to her talk about the new songs that she had been working on. Her father nodded his head as she spoke, but Beth was convinced that he wasn't really all that interested in what she was talking about. Throughout their light conversation, she could tell he was distracted; but it wasn't as if Beth could really blame him for it.

After all, the sound of approaching hooves and wheels rolling against the ground became more and more prominent, and it wasn't long before Otis was opening up the front door of the house from outside, informing both of the Greene's and Patricia that their guest had arrived.

Beth swallowed down the lump that was in her throat and tried to ignore the way that her palms began to sweat. As much as she was unhappy with this situation; Beth found that she couldn't blame the stranger for their marriage, and she wanted the man to at least think well of her when they first met. She had to remember that they were going to be wed in just a few days, and after that they would be spending the rest of their lives together. They would lay down in bed together each night, they would live in a house together and start their very own family together.

At home.

In _America._

A subtle nudge to the ribs from Patricia caused Beth to snap out of her daydreams and fall back to reality, her blue eyes wide as she realised that her father had already made his way out of the front door and was heading down the steps of their home towards the carriage. Beth blinked several times before she picked up her skirts and hurried after her father, pushing away the burning sensation in her cheeks as she did so.

Instead of following her father down the steps of the house and onto the gravel, Beth decided to hover at the top of them; watching as Hershel made his way around the side of the carriage so that she could no longer see him. Beth noted that the carriage itself was grand and the horse that pulled it was absolutely breathtaking; taller than any other horse that she had ever seen before, with a coat as black as could be.

Despite not being able to see her father, Beth could still hear him from where she stood, recognising the sound of his booming laughter and the slapping of hands together in what she imagined was a handshake. Beth stood on her tiptoes and craned her neck in an attempt to see over the carriage to get a glimpse of what was going on, and her behaviour caused Patricia to let out a muffled laugh from somewhere behind her. Beth paid little attention to it as she concentrated on spotting what was going on, but unfortunately she was far too short and didn't get to see much at all except for two pairs of feet settled on the floor on the underside of the carriage.

Beth's heart was pounding in her chest as she watched the feet intently, noting that it was her father's that moved away first, and Beth knew that he would be making his way around the carriage at any moment. She straightened up her body instantly and glanced nervously over her shoulder to lock eyes with Patricia, almost immediately soothed by the tender expression that the woman wore.

"This is my daughter," Beth heard her father say, and the sound of his voice growing louder and closer caused her head to immediately snap back in his direction.

Beth caught sight of him motioning in her general direction with his hands, and her breath inadvertently hitched in her throat at the sight of the man who stood beside Hershel; his mouth pressed into a firm line as he squinted up at her.

"Beth," her father finished, nodding at her.

Beth desperately wanted to open her mouth to say something to the man - to at least introduce herself properly - but she found that she was uncharacteristically at a loss for words. Beth remained rooted to the spot at the top of the porch steps, her lips slightly parted as her eyes roamed over the man who she would soon call her husband.

He stood tall next to her father; with broad shoulders and dark hair that flopped slightly into his eyes. His white shirt was long and messily tucked into his dark pants, but even its sleeves could not hide the telltale signs of his muscular arms. Otherwise, the man appeared to be quite trim; his face only decorated with a slight bit of stubble, and Beth assumed that he shaved regularly.

Before she could even correct herself for staring at him, the man was making his way up the steps of the house beside her father, his deep blue eyes taking her in just as much as hers were taking in all of him. Hershel cleared his throat as he slowly made his way onto the porch and Beth's lingering looks immediately halted; her head ducking down to the floor as she nervously tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Bethy," Hershel breathed, his voice calm as his eyes flickered between the pair, a look of amusement on his face as he watched them take in each other for the first time. "Meet Mister Dixon."

Finally, Beth plucked up the courage to make eye contact with the man; and her heart pounded impossibly harder against her chest when she did. Considering the fact that she had never met him, Beth couldn't help but conjure up images of what her future husband might look like - but _he_ had definitely been the last thing that she had expected when picturing the man that she would soon be marrying.

Beth had been expecting someone younger. It wasn't that this man looked old, per se; but he definitely had some years on her in the same way that Mister Walsh had some years on Maggie. Beth had listened well enough to her father's conversations with his guests the other night to know that this man was wealthy, and for that reason Beth had been expecting someone wearing much fancier clothing and a rounder stomach.

It wasn't exactly like Beth was complaining about this man, however. He may not have smiled at her yet, but there was still something about him - he was attractive in a very rugged and _manly_ sort of way. Not that Beth had worried herself much over his appearance (after all, it wasn't like she had much of a choice of who she was marrying in the first place, what would _attraction_ matter?), but she found that she was definitely relieved that he was handsome.

She could only hope that he felt the same way about her.

The man looked at her for a long moment before he took her hand in his own and brought it up to his lips, never breaking eye contact as he did so. Beth's visibly swallowed at the sight of him kissing her hand, and an unfamiliar feeling bubbled in her stomach when his lips brushed against her skin, his mouth lingering there for a moment before he stood up straight once again and dropped her hand from his.

Beth's arm dropped by her side in what felt like slow-motion and she cleared her throat before she addressed him for the first time.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mister Dixon," she said, never breaking eye contact as she spoke.

The man smirked ever so slightly at her greeting and he nodded his head at her in response.

"The pleasure's all mine, _Beth,"_ he said, drawing out her name almost painfully slowly as though he was testing the taste of it on her tongue. "An' please. Call me Daryl."

Beth nodded shyly, trying not to think too much on the foreign sound of his deep voice. She had heard many tales about America and knew that some of her father's good friends were from there, but she had never interacted with anyone from there before.

Beth couldn't even remember what she had thought that he would sound like, but it was definitely nothing like this. Daryl's accent sounded like nothing she had ever heard before, but it was beautiful nonetheless and only made him seem more appealing.

Hershel spoke up once again, breaking the moment between his daughter and her betrothed, his attention focusing solely on Daryl as he asked whether he would like to come inside and have a tour of the house.

Daryl accepted her father's invitation without much hesitation, his blue eyes meeting with hers once again for a very brief moment before he followed after Hershel, leaving Beth with only Patricia for company on the porch.

The older woman closed the front door once she had pulled Beth inside - not that it had taken much to beckon her into the house, as Beth felt as though she was hovering around n a sort of dream-like state.

Patricia looked the young woman up and down before she cleared her throat and gave Beth a knowing smile that she didn't return.

"Ma'am," Patricia said, her eyes questioning when she realised that Beth was behaving strangely. The only real explanation that Beth could muster up for her distant and emotionless behaviour and manner was that she was in a slight state of shock after finally meeting with Daryl.

It seemed as though it has been completely anti-climatic. Beth couldn't even recall what she had been expecting from him; but it has been so much more and yet so much less than _that_.

"Why don't you head to the dining room with me?" Patricia suggested. "Your father requested that I made a traditional Irish stew for our guest. I'm sure that their tour will be finished soon enough, and the food will almost be ready, too."

Beth found that she could only nod her head once in agreement and followed Patricia through to the dining room in absolute silence, her throat suddenly very dry as she made her way through the halls.

She found that she was overcome with emotion; mostly feeling very uncertain and confused, floating around in a bit of a daze as she entered the empty room. Patricia's small heels clicked loudly against the floorboards as she walked through the room and made a beeline towards the kitchen; leaving Beth stood awkwardly in the doorway as she looked up and down the long table, wondering for the first time in her life about where exactly she should sit.

Who was her place more inclined towards - her father, or her fiance?

There was absolutely no doubt in her mind that the two men would sit across from one another, not next to each other; and it was with that thought in her head that Beth decided that perhaps she should settle herself somewhere in the middle.

All the whole, Beth's mind was swarming with a strange combination of thoughts; some positive, some negative. She supposed that it was a good thing that Mister Dixon - _Daryl -_ seemed polite enough towards her, even if he wasn't necessarily what she had been expecting when her father had told her that he had arranged for her to be married.

But still, there were plenty of doubts that remained in the back of her mind about the stranger and the situation that they found themselves in.

After all, just because the man she was going to marry was attractive didn't mean that she was suddenly pleased that her father was rushing her down the aisle.

* * *

 ** _Phew._ **

**So they've met! I hope that their first interaction didn't disappoint. I know that Hershel kind of swooped in and stole Daryl away, but I'm thinking of doing the next chapter from Daryl's POV and giving you an insight into why this whole marriage is taking place. Beth won't learn about it for a while yet, but everyone seems incredibly curious and I think it would be a good point in the story to explore that reason, anyway. Let me know if you would like to see that, or if you would prefer this to continue on in Beth's POV.**

 **I touched on the accents a little bit in this chapter because obviously they will differ. I must admit that I don't know much about the accents in the nineteenth century but in my mind, I'm going to have them very true to the accents that are around now.**

 **It might not be contextually accurate but I have looked into it and can't find much if I'm honest, so I'm going to assume Daryl sounds basically the same (he's going to be very much the same except for maybe a little more polite, because I imagine it would be seen as very un-gentlemanly if you were anywhere near as blunt as Daryl is on the show) and let's just say that Beth has a very light Irish accent. Ok? Ok.**

 **But really, I'm not going to be writing their accents very obviously, so you can just imagine them however you want. I just thought that I would address that issue since I kind of brought it up in this chapter and I've decided on where the characters are from now.**

 **I also wanted to say that the home that the Greene's live in in this story is bigger than the farmhouse that they have in the show. I'm thinking that the farmhouse is more like the house that Hershel has already said that Daryl owns in town and that they will be moving into.**

 **Anyway, I'm going to stop rambling now. Once again, congratulations if you made it this far! You're wonderful.**

 **Thanks for reading and please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**This chapter is a little bit shorter than the other three have been, but I thought that it was probably about time you all learned a little bit more about what's going on and why this arrangement is beneficial for both parties.**

 **A few of you have also mentioned that you would like to see some of Daryl's POV so this one's for you. Hope it doesn't disappoint your expectations of what it looks like inside of his head!**

* * *

In general, the tour of the Greene home had mostly been a half-hearted attempt at showing Daryl around, but he wasn't exactly going to start complaining about the lack of enthusiasm that he felt from Hershel. It was more than obvious to the younger man that Hershel had jumped at the first opportunity that he was given to get the two of them alone, and as much as Daryl had never been the type to beat around the bush and play these sort of games, he supposed that it would be best to simply humour the man instead of cutting to the chase with everything, or even point-blank refusing his offer of a tour.

"So," Hershel said as the pair strolled down the long halls of the house. "How was your journey here? Not too troublesome, I should hope."

Daryl shrugged his shoulders as he looked over the paintings on the walls of the hall.

"Was alright," he commented, recognising that there were several paintings of Hershel's youngest daughter, Beth - the woman who he would soon call his _wife_ \- and his gaze lingered on what had to be the most recent portrait of her for a little while longer than it had done on any of the other paintings down the hall.

If Hershel had noticed, he didn't give the younger man any sort of indication; choosing to simply nod his head at Daryl's nonchalant response as the pair approached the door that Daryl presumed led into the dining room due to the sound of unfamiliar voices coming from the other side of the door. Daryl had overheard Patricia talking to Beth as he and Hershel had wandered away for the tour of the home, and he remembered the woman mentioning something about waiting for the men in the dining room, and that some stew had been prepared for dinner.

Food wasn't too far from his mind at the moment. The journey into town had been a little less than 'alright' if the pounding in his head was anything to take into account, but Daryl decided not to bore Hershel with the details of the trip.

It had been quite some time since Daryl's last visit to the town, and he had completely forgotten the way in which the roads were much smoother back home in Georgia than they were here. It seemed as though the trip itself had taken twice as long as it usually did (whether or not that had to do with the sense of nervousness that had settled in the pit of his stomach at the thought of meeting the woman who he would be married to soon enough, Daryl wasn't sure) and he wasn't much surprised that he had a headache after the way in which his carriage had been thrown around roughly due to the uneven surfaces of the streets here.

Daryl had taken the time to stop off and have meals on his journey to the Greene home, but he was still hungry nonetheless and was more than eager about getting a warm meal into his stomach. It had been a long couple of years since Daryl had tasted a good bowl of traditional Irish stew, and he was hoping that Hershel's staff were capable of making a half-decent dinner so that he wasn't disappointed.

Before either of the men were close enough to reach out to the doorknob of the dining room door, Hershel stopped in his tracks and placed one of his hands on Daryl's shoulder; effectively stopping him from moving any further. Daryl immediately stilled at the contact and turned his body slightly so that he was face-to-face with the older man instead of side-by-side, his brows creased over in confusion as Hershel cleared his throat.

"Whilst we're here, alone," Hershel began, his light eyes dancing around the room a little awkwardly as he spoke and eventually lingered on the door of the dining room for a moment.

The nervous and uncertain behaviour of the older man caused Daryl to immediately be suspicious, and the first thing that he considered was whether or not the older man had changed his mind about their whole agreement. Beth had seemed pleasant enough when they first met out on the porch of the home, but maybe Hershel's young daughter wasn't half as kind and polite and calm as she had initially seemed. Maybe she was a little bit more of a spitfire; someone who had stomped her feet and raised her voice and folded her arms when her father informed her that he was going to be marrying her off to a man that she didn't even know.

Hell, Daryl wouldn't even blame her for behaving like that - even if it was looked at as being improper.

Hershel seemed to notice the way that Daryl had tensed up at the pause in his speech and began to talk, this time at a much quicker rate than before.

"I just wanted to take this opportunity, now, to thank you. For everything."

Hershel was looking Daryl straight in the eyes as he spoke, and Daryl wasn't surprised that he managed to keep his expression stone-cold and composed, even though he felt more under pressure than ever. Daryl had always been good at keeping his emotions from his face - it was a skill that he had mastered from an early age, not having much of a choice in the matter, either - and now that he was much older and much more practiced, it was rarer to see the youngest Dixon brother showing any signs of how he felt through his expression than it was to see him straight-faced.

"I don't know what I would do without you here, helpin' me. My Bethy... Well," he stopped himself, shaking his head for a moment and looking at the ground before glancing back up to Daryl. "I don't know what I would do if anythin' would have happened. If we would have lost this house."

Swallowing down the lump in his throat was hard enough for Daryl to do without having to think much about what he should say back to the Greene man. Words had never been Daryl's strong suit, and as much as he wanted to brush his father-in-law off in the way that he would do with most other people that he knew, Daryl thought that it was probably better if he at least _tried_ to be courteous.

"Do you have the papers written up?"

It was a lousy response and he knew it, but Daryl wondered if it was better than saying absolutely nothing at all. As much he wished that he could make out as though this was all about being wed - maybe pretend that he was only interested in this whole damned agreement because it meant that he would be able to call the pretty young Greene girl his wife - he really knew that he couldn't. After all, he had only first laid his eyes upon her that very day.

The whole reason that he had agreed to marry Hershel's youngest daughter in the first place was so that he could buy out the older man's land and add it to his ever-growing collection. Daryl owned almost all of the farm land in the town and had set his eyes on the acres of the Greene farm several visits before, although the opportunity had never arisen for him to purchase it - until now. He had heard the news that Hershel Greene was in more debt than he could manage from one of his employees, and that's what had pushed Daryl to contact him several weeks before.

Initially, Daryl had proposed that he would buy the farm from Hershel and in turn pay off his extensive debts. At the same time, the older Greene man could continue to live at the farm along with all of his workers (who would now be paid by Daryl for their services) and nobody in town would even have to know about the deal if Hershel didn't want them to. Another part of the agreement that they had discussed was that in turn for Daryl allowing Hershel to stay at the farm, instead of offering any money as rent, Daryl would take a hefty percentage of the money that was made selling the crops and produce to the townspeople, so long as Hershel continued to organise the trade and use his own animals and equipment.

It was evident that Hershel really had been desperate to get himself out of his debt and had already expressed his many thanks more than enough in the letters that they had exchanged with one another. However, Hershel had also mentioned one last thing that he wanted to take care of when doing their deal: his youngest daughter.

Beth really was as beautiful as Hershel had described. Daryl hadn't bothered to hold his breath on the matter since he imagined that all father's believed that their daughter's were the prettiest women around (hell, he had met plenty of men who said that and Daryl hadn't necessarily thought much of their daughter's looks at all). Still, Hershel had proposed that as part of their deal, Daryl would marry his daughter; making her a Dixon and effectively setting her up for life.

Saying that it was well-known about how the Dixon brother's were wealthy was most definitely an understatement. Daryl and his brother were partners in their businesses; running several of the largest and most successful plantations in the state of Georgia. Daryl had also extended his expertise and invested in the farming trade; acquiring the deeds to large amounts of land, and also homes, too.

Many had questioned him on why he had never chosen to marry himself off to a woman, although he had never really put much thought into it until Hershel had suggested it. Daryl had never cared much about the idea of being a husband; but if marrying Hershel's daughter meant that the older man would finally sell his land over to him, then Daryl would happily oblige.

Besides, it wasn't like the idea of marrying Beth was necessarily unappealing. She was youthful and pretty and the fact that she had shown little sign of reluctance in regards to their wedding suggested that she was a good daughter who had respect for her father, and that in turn hinted to Daryl that she would (probably) make a good wife who would have respect for him - her husband.

All that was left now was for Hershel to sign over the deed to his land - and for Daryl to marry Beth.

"I have," Hershel said, his voice a little strained as he spoke, but Daryl chose to ignore that. "We can talk more about it after dinner, if you'd like."

Daryl nodded at that and didn't say anything more, waiting as the older man finally removed his hand from Daryl's shoulder and made a move to open the door into the dining room. The scent of the fresh food that was already placed in bowls at the table filled his nostrils, and Daryl instinctively inhaled deeply, his stomach growling as he stepped further into the room.

His deep blue eyes danced across the long dining table as Hershel made his way towards the end of it and Daryl couldn't help but stare at the petite blonde who was sat in the center of the wooden table, seeming to have been patiently awaiting the arrival of her father and her betrothed.

As he took her in - her light hair that almost glowed and her pale skin that looked so soft and smooth and the top half of her body that looked so small - he decided that he wasn't all too sure what was more appealing; the smell of the food, or the sight of her.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading and please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**When I first planned out this story, I had Daryl in my mind as being a little bit mean towards Beth and very cold and distant, only for him to eventually warm up to her and to have their relationship progress from there.**

 **The version of Daryl in this story has completely gone against that and seems to be very drawn to Beth, as many of you noticed from the last chapter. In this chapter, I want to point out I'm not trying to make him be mean or cold or cruel to her like I had originally planned - he's just awkward and shy and quiet and _Daryl._ I hope you're all happy with the way that I've been writing him and please let me know what you think of where I'm going with his character in your reviews.**

 **I don't know why, but Beth always just comes much easier to me, so I think that most of the chapter's in this story will be her POV. There will be Daryl's too though.**

 **Oh, and also - thank you to everyone who has shown support for this story. I really, really do appreciate it; even if I am really bad at replying to your reviews, I do read them all and think it's so kind of you to take your time to give me such lovely feedback. I'll stop rambling now... Enjoy!**

* * *

Dinner was uneventful.

Hershel had talked and talked and talked for the most part; telling Daryl long tales about the town and stories about its residents as well as telling the couple general information about the wedding that had been planned for them in just a short few days and confirming with Daryl about the house that Beth would soon be calling her home. Beth had tried her hardest to pay attention to the conversation on the slight chance that someone might attempt to involve her in it at all, but her father didn't even leave much room for Daryl to have a hefty input into it, never mind leaving any at all for her. Besides, Beth honestly wondered whether her father would really appreciate it if she said anything at all.

A lot of the time, he seemed to prefer her quiet and agreeing to his words, whether she truly believed in them or not.

Another thing that Beth had quickly noticed about the man that she was going to marry was that his facial expressions were very difficult to read. Daryl didn't provide her - or anyone, for that matter - many hints or facial cues towards how he was feeling or what he was thinking, and Beth had stopped looking for any noticeable signs after a while. Instead, she concentrated on the tiny little movements of his face; the way his eyes narrowed the smallest amount or the slight way in which the corners of his lips turned up or down. Beth focused her attention on his hands; whether they were balled in tight fists or whether his knuckles were relaxed, whether he was fidgeting with something or nibbling on his nails.

If she wanted to get to know this man any better, then she would have to focus on those little things - those barely-there movements that nobody else would look out for or pay attention to. It seemed like Daryl was the opposite to her; all closed where she was open, but Beth knew that practice made perfect and it would take time until she could read him, but she was sure that she'd be able to eventually.

She had to. They were going to be _married._ There was no real choice in the matter as far as she was concerned. This was the man who she was going to be spending the rest of her life with; the man who she would share a home with, the man who would father her children, the man who would provide for her and their family, the man who she would be moving away with soon enough...

Away from this house.

Away from this town.

Away from her _father._

Her thoughts had been cut off before she could panic herself too much and Beth was dismissed from dinner once the meal had been finished and a toast had been made to the soon-to-be couple. As she was leaving, Beth had briefly overheard her father mention something about some paperwork that needed signing and he had invited Daryl with him to his office, to which the quiet man had simply nodded his head in acceptance. Beth retired herself to her bedroom in the hopes of having some much-needed privacy, but it wasn't long until Patricia was knocking on the door and letting herself in the room so that she could help Beth change into her nightclothes.

There were times when Patricia and Beth would talk, and there were other times when the older woman would go about her business with little noise. Tonight Patricia worked with the latter, and it was Beth who was filling the silence between them with her soft singing. It was never an awkward silence between the two of them; more a comfortable one that they could work happily with, but it was a habit of Beth's to sing to herself when it was quiet and Patricia never seemed to mind.

Once she was changed into her night dress, Patricia motioned for Beth to sit at the vanity table. The younger woman obliged with ease, sighing dreamily as she removed the jewelry from her ears whilst Patricia got straight to work on running a comb through her long hair.

"So, Mister Dixon..." Patricia began, her brows knotting together whilst she concentrated on brushing through some of the thick blonde strands which happened to be more tangled than the others. Beth watched in the mirror as Patricia's features slowly relaxed as she smoothed out the knots and then continued with what she had been saying. "He seems... nice."

Beth nodded her head ever so slightly, not wanting to move too much whilst Patricia was working on her hair, but also not knowing quite what to say. She supposed that Patricia's judgement was fair; he had seemed like he was a nice enough gentleman, although Beth already expected him to be considering her father wanted her to marry him.

"And handsome, too," Patricia continued, her eyes darting up from Beth's light hair to meet her own gaze in the reflection of the mirror. Patricia was struggling to hold back a smile and Beth couldn't help herself but to smirk back in the mirror at her.

It was times like these that Beth forgot that Patricia was an employee and felt that she was more of a friend than anything else. Now that Maggie had left home, there was nobody else to sit around with and discuss these sorts of things with; and Beth found that she actually _enjoyed_ being able to talk to Patricia about these sorts of things. When they talked like this, she forgot all about the age gap that they had between them and felt like Patricia was more of a best friend than she had ever really had.

"Patricia," Beth said, her tone light and playful. "You shouldn't talk like that about Mister Dixon. Your husband might hear you and be quite upset about it."

The older woman tutted at that and reached over onto the vanity table to swap the comb that she had been using for a much thicker hairbrush, her movements swift and practiced.

"There's nothing wrong with noticing these things, ma'am," Patricia said as she worked the brush through Beth's hair. "He'll be _your_ husband soon enough. I'm just admiring him for you, really."

Beth laughed at that and shook her head whilst Patricia set the brush back down on the table, seemingly satisfied with the condition of her hair. As she laughed to herself, Beth couldn't help but be reminded once more about how much she would really miss these moments with the woman who had known her for such a long time and as a result knew her so well. Beth knew that it would be difficult to adjust to life living with Daryl in their new home, but moments like these reminded her of what she would soon be missing out on.

Patricia must have noticed that Beth's happy mood had dampened somewhat, but she didn't address it; instead choosing to ask Beth whether she needed any more assistance with anything else. When Beth told her that she didn't, Patricia drew the long curtains that hung in the window of the room before she excused herself, leaving Beth alone to sleep.

"I'm sure tomorrow will be just as much an eventful day as today," Patricia said as she edged closer towards the bedroom door, glancing over her shoulder and watching as the younger woman pulled back the sheets from where they had been perfectly made on the bed and climbed onto the mattress with ease. "I'm sure your fiance will be expecting you to spend some more time with him. Perhaps you could learn some more about him before the wedding."

Beth wasn't sure how she felt about the idea of that, but she chose not to discuss her uncertainty with Patricia. Instead, she nodded her head at the words and tried her best to stifle a yawn. She didn't want to appear rude, but now that she had positioned herself in bed she realised just how tired she actually was. Although she may not have necessarily done all that much over the course of the last few days, they had been emotionally draining and therefore exhausting nonetheless; and it would probably be a good idea to get some rest.

After all, catching up on some much-needed sleep wouldn't hurt.

"Goodnight, Patricia," Beth said as she fluffed up her pillow before shifting herself to lay down on her side, her hair fanning around her and falling down her shoulders and over her face messily.

Patricia looked over from where she was stood in the doorway for a long moment, a soft smile painted on her face as she watched the youngest Greene settle herself into bed. Beth wondered whether her move would be as sad for Patricia as it would be for her, and part of her wanted to ask whether Patricia would miss her presence at the farm house.

Before she had chance to even seriously contemplate opening her mouth and actually voicing her thoughts, Patricia leaned over towards the dressing table and blew out the candle that was lit there. It seemed that she was happy that Beth had made herself comfortable and decided that it was time to send the whole room into darkness.

"Goodnight, ma'am," Patricia said, her tone gentle as she shut the door closed behind her.

That night, Beth fell asleep much easier than she had expected to; no more nightmares of faceless strangers dragging her down an aisle plaguing her mind. Instead, she dreamed of open planes and horseback riding alongside a blue-eyed man who had a delicious smirk and a foreign accent.

* * *

The next day, Beth decided that her fiance was much quieter than she had originally perceived him to be.

It seemed as though it was whenever he was in her father's company that Daryl was at his most talkative point; although even then, it could be noted that he was a quiet, reserved man. Now that the two of them were alone - actually _alone,_ not even having to have Otis trail behind them, keeping an eye on them both - Daryl seemed to be practically mute. He didn't say much at all; instead preferring to grunt and shrug his shoulders as Bet spoke, and she tried her best not to be put off by his gruffness and the lack of verbal communication that she received from him.

Instead, Beth chose to focus on his non-verbal cues and took those as answers to her questions and continued thus forth. It may not have been much and she thought that Daryl would probably think that she was strange for it, but Beth supposed that it was better than the two of them wandering around the fields of the farm in silence.

"I would love to hear more about your businesses," Beth commented, deciding that it was time to choose a new tactic to get him to speak to her. Had she not heard him chatting with her father the evening before, Beth would have probably thought that Daryl being foreign meant that he couldn't speak her tongue. Instead, it seemed that he just preferred to speak with anyone else but her.

 _Was she really all that bad?_

"Really?" Daryl asked, his tone sounding ever so slightly amused.

 _That has to count for something._

Bells were chiming in Beth's head at his response. It may have only been one word, but it was better than anything that he had given her so far that afternoon. Beth supposed that it was very much trial-and-error with topics of conversation with Daryl and she hoped that this one struck a chord within him.

Still, that one little word made Beth's cheeks burn in embarrassment; but she reminded herself that she really did have nothing to be embarrassed about. She genuinely was interested in his businesses. This wasn't just about being courteous towards him anymore; her interest in Daryl and his life was pure and honest and good, even if he didn't seem very quick to think that it was. After all, this man was going to be her husband - of _course_ she wanted to know more about him and what he did for a living.

How he provided for himself.

How he was going to provide for _her._

Did that make her interests somewhat selfish? Beth couldn't be sure.

"Yes," she answered him, hoping that she sounded much more certain of herself and her voice than she actually felt inside.

The two of them were walking side by side through the fields of the farm, the weather actually quite glorious for a change. Beth had tried joking with Daryl that he had brought the sun with him from the south, but he hadn't laughed all too much at her words, so Beth hadn't mentioned it again. It was still quite early in spring and the Greene's had been expecting more rain to fall on the town, but it seemed as though the sun was absolutely adamant to shine across the land; lighting up the grass and the trees with it.

From where they were currently walking on top of one of the hills, the sight of it was breathtaking. Beth hoped that her husband was just as impressed with the sights as she was.

"Don't you think this is beautiful?" Beth asked, not really realising that she was speaking until she had asked the question.

Daryl looked at her quizzically for a moment, his eyes narrowed and his lips pressed into a thin line, before he turned his head and looked out across where she was looking. They were stood still in silence as they both took in the views for a few more breaths, and eventually Daryl shrugged in response.

"S'alright, I suppose," he said, and Beth tried not to feel too disappointed.

 _Trial and error,_ she reminded herself in an attempt to stay motivated.

Beth doubted that she would ever get bored of the beauty that mother nature offered to her each and every day. She had seen the sights of these fields glimmering in the sunshine for years and years and years, but the view from on top of the hills always managed to stun her for a brief moment, and she believed that it would always be something that she would appreciate.

"I own some plantations," Daryl told her once they had started walking again, although the ground suddenly seemed very interesting to him now that he was actually talking to her.

Beth had never been the type of woman who was vain, but she _had_ caught him sneaking several glances in her direction that afternoon as they walked together over the farmland. Although Beth didn't want to be too hopeful within herself, she could accept that Daryl at least seemed to appreciate the sight of her. She was glad for it, really - she hadn't struggled to squeeze herself into this light pink dress for nothing.

She nodded her head at him in understanding, genuinely pleased that he was sharing this information with her. Although Beth's father hadn't thought it to be very important to tell her much about her fiance, he _had_ thought that all of his friends who joined him in drinking several nights before should know, and had spent most of the evening boasting about his future son-in-law. Beth had learnt a little bit about Daryl from that evening, but she chose not to mention it now and pretended that this was all news to her.

"Back in Georgia, that is."

Beth nodded again.

"So, you live in America?"

Her voice broke in pitch as she spoke. Beth had been hoping to sound very nonchalant and casual when she spoke, but the way that Daryl's head had quickly snapped in her direction at her tone informed her that he had definitely noticed the fact that she sounded different.

If there was another thing that Beth was learning very quickly about this man, it was that he sure was observant.

"Yeah," he told her simply, nodding his head before he turned to face the fields ahead of him once again, breaking the eye contact that they'd been holding for quite a few seconds by that point. Beth instantly missed the feeling of his eyes on hers, but the absence of his gaze allowed her to feel as though she could breathe again. "In America. I manage 'em with my brother. Own quite a fair bit o' land, too."

Beth realised that this was the most that she had ever heard Daryl say to her in one whole sentence. She tried to calm her heart rate, but it was beating wildly against her chest in happiness and pride.

Couldn't someone have at least advised her that the best way to get Daryl to talk to her was by asking him questions about his career? That would have saved them a painfully awkward start to their conversation this afternoon.

"What do you do with the land that you own?" Beth asked, quickly very intrigued.

She may not have known much about plantations, but she knew her fair share about land and farming. Everything that she knew had been picked up on from her life of living on the farm; listening to her daddy explain things to her when she was younger and watching the employees as they worked. Beth often still helped Patricia collect the chickens eggs (there were some nasty roosters in the barn who only really liked the company of Beth and Patricia) and liked assisting in milking the cows, too.

Hershel didn't necessarily approve of his daughters antics, but she argued that it was much better than the way that Maggie had rebelled against him and their mama for the longest of times and that helping out a little never hurt anyone. After she said that, her father would always give her a stern look, but Beth was just as stubborn as he was and wouldn't back down. Besides, she genuinely enjoyed helping out around the farm - it meant that she actually had some sort of purpose instead of sitting around, doing nothing with her days.

Daryl just shrugged his shoulders in answer to her question, but finally opened his mouth to speak after a long stretch of silence.

"Do lots of things with the land," he said. "Mostly use it to farm, an' get a lot of money by trading. Got myself a lot of clients back in America that like the imported goods. They reckon it's better quality, an' it's cheaper to run over here than it is back home, so I can sell things for cheaper than competitors do an' the people really love it."

 _Wow, he really was quite the chatterbox when it came to his work. Who would have known?_

Beth tried to write a mental list of work-related questions that she could mention at any given time to try and coax Daryl into a conversation.

"Use the land to build on, an' rent out property, too. But it's mostly for famin'."

Beth nodded at his words, keen to look interested in what he was saying, but she was distracted at the sight of the farm house coming into view once again. Part of her almost felt disappointed at the sight of it.

"You have a brother?" Beth asked, glancing over at him to get a good look at his expression.

Unfortunately, Daryl's lips had turned down in a frown at the mention of his sibling, and Beth immediately felt guilty. This was her own fault; she had clearly completely overstepped the boundaries with Daryl and now she would be right back to square one with him.

Daryl chose not to enlighten her much on his brother, gifting her with a simple nod of the head before he mentioned his brother in the briefest of descriptions.

"He's older than me," Daryl said, almost mumbling now, head cast downwards as they walked. "He doesn't have much interest in land, though. Or Ireland. Prefers life back home."

Beth tucked a strand of hair behind her ear awkwardly, deciding that it was probably best if she didn't say anything more about Daryl's brother. He had taken long enough to answer her question in the first place, and she didn't think that her fiance would really appreciate any more poking or prodding on the topic when he had obviously been so very uncomfortable in the first place.

Not knowing where else to take the conversation without making him feel uneasy but also not wanting them to fall into silence, Beth turned the conversation onto herself, hoping to teach him some more about her.

"I have an older sibling," she told him, hoping that he would note the similarity there. "Her name's Maggie. She got married a short while ago an' left home to live with her husband."

Daryl nodded his head.

"I know."

That was that, and all Beth could do was chew on the inside of her cheek, regretting the way in which the conversation had taken a turn for the words. Just as things were starting to run smoothly between them, she just _had_ to open her big mouth and go prying where she wasn't wanted.

The sound of her mother's voice in her head reasoned with Beth to calm down and be patient; not only with Daryl, but also with herself. After all, she had only known this man for little over twenty four hours - she couldn't expect their interactions to flow with a natural and friendly aura when everything about their situation was the complete opposite. It was all so unnatural, practically forced on her own side, and Beth couldn't exactly be sure on whether or not Daryl was very keen on the idea of their marriage, either.

If he was, then he certainly had a poor way of showing it to her.

"Never really liked Shane," Daryl commented after a while.

The sound of his voice all deep and rough startled her ever so slightly, shaking her from her daydreaming mind. Beth hadn't been expecting Daryl to say anything at all and she was more than just a little taken aback at the way in which he had addressed her once more.

Maybe he was _trying._

"Mister Walsh?" Beth asked in an attempt to confirm her suspicions, sounding slightly in disbelief as she spoke.

If anything, her surprised tone was more due to the fact that Daryl had said something to her as opposed to the fact that he had said something negative about Maggie's husband.

"Mmhmm," Daryl hummed, his face turning towards hers ever so slightly. Beth realised that she had stepped closer towards him when he spoke and she quickly tried to distance herself from him as casually as she could, not wanting him to think that she was too forward with him. "Done business with him a few times. S'not that I know him too well or anythin'. S'just... I don't like the vibe that I get from him."

Beth had to look down at the floor as Daryl spoke, trying with all her might to rack her brain for memories of the man that they were talking about. Now that she thought into it; Beth could recall the way that she felt a little bit uneasy around him, but nothing too dramatic had ever happened between the pair of them to make her think that Mister Walsh was a bad person. Sure, his eyes lingered in places they shouldn't and his tone was more suggestive than it should have been when talking to his sister-in-law, but it wasn't like any of that counted for anything, anyway.

Nobody would ever even believe her if she told them that.

Hershel obviously seemed to think that Shane was a decent enough man considering the fact that he had happily allowed for his oldest daughter to marry him, but the harshness and bluntness that she could hear in Daryl's tone as he told her about Shane made her second-guess her initial thoughts on the man.

Beth had to reminded herself that Daryl was obviously much more observant that she was.

Daryl seemed to realise that Beth was over-thinking his words to her about Shane and he chose to let out a heavy sigh, his expression pained and slightly regretful. Beth didn't want to put her fiance off talking to her about things like this. After all, she would rather know just what he was thinking than not know at all.

Still, Beth couldn't deny the fact that Daryl's words didn't reside well within her. She quickly found that she was beginning to panic and worry about her older sister who was _married_ to him. It wasn't like she could do anything, not even if she wanted to. If Daryl really didn't like Shane at all, then there had to be a good enough reason for that dislike to have been placed.

Was Shane dangerous?

Would he hurt Maggie?

Should she be so concerned?

Should she tell her father?

"I jus'... I want you to stay away from him," Daryl finally said after a long pause. The couple had almost reached the house at this point and were still walking side-by-side, but he was facing towards her more so that Beth had a clearer view of his features. "If Shane ever visits for business... You know. Or any other reason. I just don't want you 'round him."

Beth found that her throat was too dry for her to be able to form any words and speak them to him, so instead Beth settled for nodding her head at him and following quickly behind at his heels as Daryl walked himself into the house, her mind wandering as she though on about his words.

She couldn't help but be curious - not after he had said that to her and made it plain to see that something had gone on there for Daryl to dislike Mister Walsh so much. But what exactly was it about her brother-in-law that Daryl really disliked all so strongly? Beth had never been one to pry, but if it had to do with Maggie's safety, the young woman was adamant to herself that she would find out _exactly_ what was going on.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading and please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**This chapter slightly explores themes of domestic violence. It's nothing too graphic, but if that's a trigger for anyone, I'm warning you in advance.**

 **PS: Thanks for all the follows/favourites/reviews, and thanks to everyone who just silently reads this. You all make me smile so much!**

* * *

Patricia had offered to accompany Beth into town so that the younger woman could pick out the dress for her wedding. Once they had chosen what Beth had thought was the most beautiful gown she had ever seen - simple and white that complimented her slender frame in all of the best ways - they made their way back towards their carriage, and it was then that Patricia chose to break the news that Maggie was on her way into town and that she would be attending the wedding ceremony with her husband.

Beth was completely taken aback at the news. In all honesty, due to her initial lack of excitement at the news of the wedding and the length of time that it had been since Beth had seen her sister in town, she hadn't given Maggie's attendance to the ceremony much thought. Now that she actually did think about it, Beth supposed that she had simply assumed that Maggie wouldn't be there.

She wasn't even sure how her sister knew about the wedding or how she had managed to convince her husband to come back into town so that they could attend it. But Beth didn't even care.

"Really?" she asked, her blue eyes wide with excitement, a smile creeping across her face at the thought of seeing her sister again.

It had been far too long.

"Oh, Patricia, you truly mean it?"

Patricia could only laugh with glee at Beth's thrilled expression, nodding her head up and down quickly as she walked with the younger woman closer and closer towards the carriage. Beth was beaming as she spoke; her words spilling out of her mouth at a ridiculous pace, all rushed and stuttered due to excitement.

"I can't believe it," Beth said, shaking her head in disbelief as Len (one of her father's employees; a man who was always a little bit too friendly with the Greene girls but who had offered to drive the carriage out for the women that day) opened up the carriage door for her. Beth climbed in first with Patricia following close behind, the door shutting behind them once they were both settled into their seats.

At twenty years of age, Beth felt as though she was more than ready to become someone's wife - in fact, she had felt that way for several years now. In fact, the only reason that she hadn't been looking forward to her marriage to Mister Dixon in the first place was due to the way in which she regretted the circumstances that her wedding would take place in. Had their marriage been arranged around a different situation - maybe if they had met on several occasions before the engagement and if he would have courted her for some time and if they would have fallen in love before he asked her father for her hand - then Beth was sure that she would have been much more excited about becoming Mrs Dixon.

Her mama had always called Beth a dreamer, and she knew that it was probably her own fault for being naive and wishful, but the way in which she had always hoped for a marriage like the one her parents shared couldn't just disappear overnight. Those hopes had been crushed and those dreams had been dampened the afternoon that her father had announced to his friends - and subsequently, to her - that he had agreed for her to be wed to one of the wealthiest men that the town had ever seen.

Beth recalled a conversation that she'd had with Maggie when her older sibling had found out from her father that she was going to be marrying Mister Walsh. Maggie had always been much more of a realist than Beth ever had been, but even so, Beth knew deep down that her sister had wanted something similar to what their parents had, too - even if she was too stubborn to admit it. Both of the sisters had been disappointed at the news of Maggie's engagement, and her elder sister had thought that she was being wise when she told Beth that all a daughter was to a father was a cash cow; no better than the animals that they used on the farm for produce.

Now, even though they were sisters; that didn't mean that Beth and Maggie weren't two very different people who didn't always agree on everything. Beth certainly didn't agree with her sister on _that._ She reassured herself that Maggie was just angry at her father for arranging the marriage and also angry at herself for believing that he wouldn't - quite similarly to the way that Beth felt on the news of her own engagement, really. The two sisters knew that Hershel loved his daughters more than anything in this world, and Beth was sure in her heart that he would have his own reasons for marrying them both in such a manner.

And even if he didn't have any reason at all, there was really nothing that they could do about it anyway.

Hershel's youngest child had put the arranged marriages down to the way in which he had lose their mother; how his heart had been shattered once she breathed in her last breath, how he was so lonely now that she was gone from this world. Beth believed that her father didn't want his daughters to be lonely in the way that he now was, and that it explained why he had rushed them both into the arms of men all of a sudden.

Nobody could ignore the fact that Hershel Greene was getting older and older, too. As much as Beth didn't want to consider a world without her father in it, she had already lost her mother and knew all too well that the way in which her father was refusing to properly take care of his health meant that it would only be a matter of time until she lost him, too.

 _(Just because she was a dreamer didn't mean that she couldn't face up to the harsh facts of reality when she had to.)_

Now that she was hearing that her sister would be returning to town for the wedding, Beth was more than just overjoyed. She had been feeling slightly more at ease after having the opportunity to meet Mister Dixon for the first time, and also after getting to know him a bit more after their walk; but Beth had still been nervous and worried about marrying the older man who she barely knew a thing about. Hearing that Maggie would be there to support her through it all made her mood suddenly soar.

"I'm glad you're so pleased about this," Patricia said, not able to hold back her own smile at the sight of Beth's grin. "Although I _am_ surprised that you seem so shocked at the news, ma'am. Did you really believe that your sister wouldn't be attending your wedding?"

All Beth could do was shrug her shoulders and glance back out of the window of the carriage, watching as the town slowly disappeared from her view. She was glad that Patricia chose not to press the issue any further than that as they made their journey home, but the older woman's quizzical glances in Beth's direction didn't go completely unnoticed.

* * *

Maggie arrived at the farm house the day before the wedding, accompanied in her carriage by Mister Walsh. The carriage that they rode in was nowhere near as grand as the one that Beth's fiance had used and the horse that they had was much scrawnier than the horses that lived on the farm, but Beth chose not to think much of that.

In truth, she didn't have much of a choice in the matter when it came to her being polite to her brother-in-law. It was expected of her to behave nicely around him and to speak properly around him, too; but she felt extremely paranoid that people would be able to see through her fake smiles and the strained friendly tone that she was using as she greeted him.

No matter how much she tried to force herself to forget about what it was that Daryl had said to her in regards to her sister's husband, she _couldn't,_ and the thought of Maggie being married to a man who her fiance seemed to dislike so strongly made Beth feel more than just uneasy around him.

Still, Beth had never been one to judge someone who she didn't know personally. That was the way that her mama and daddy had brought her up to be, and she was proud of that, too.

However, Maggie's broken fingers were another story.

"What happened to your hands?" Beth asked, her brows furrowed as she took Maggie's hands into her own carefully, noticing how her sister winced slightly when she touched them. Beth examined the bandages that were wrapped around two or three of the fingers on both of her older sister's hands, her eyes darting up to Maggie and back down to them quickly, trying to take in her sister's facial expression, too.

Beth had intended to greet her sister very differently. She had imagined that it would have been with a warm hug and cheek kisses and excited laughter and girlish chatter. Instead, the two women were stood in silence on the front porch of the house, Maggie's hands resting in Beth's palms, several people stood around them, watching the exchange intently. There had been an excited buzz around the farmhouse all morning at the news of Maggie's impending arrival, but now that she was here, nobody seemed to be smiling.

Well, except for Mister Walsh, who didn't seem phased by the encounter at all.

Maggie cleared her throat somewhat awkwardly and shrugged her shoulders ever so slightly. Beth was more than capable of seeing right through her sister fake smile the exact what that Maggie could probably see right through her own polite words to Mister Walsh.

"You know how clumsy I am," was all that Maggie said.

Beth eyed her sister carefully.

If there was anything that Maggie was not, it was clumsy. That word was one that had always been used to describe the youngest Greene sister; certainly not the oldest, not ever. Maggie was careful and quick and swift and powerful - all in a very feminine way, but in a way nonetheless. Beth had broken and fractured too many bones to count and had acquired a number of large bruises over the years (the worst usually coming from when she fell from her horse, Nelly), but now that she was trying to, she realised that she struggled to actually recall a time when Maggie had ever even slightly injured herself.

People were clearly beginning to feel the tension that was painted around the sisters. Beth's fiance was looking straight in Shane's direction with narrowed blue eyes and arms crossed over his chest whilst Patricia was looking straight at Maggie's fingers that were still resting in Beth's own palms, the older woman's whole posture still as she remained frozen to the spot. Otis and Joe (another one of her daddy's employees who worked out on the land more than he did inside the home) had taken care of the carriage that the Walsh's had arrived in and were just making their way up the steps of the porch when their bodies stiffened up, too; seeming to take note of the sense of uneasiness that was thick in the air as the sisters stared each other down.

As for Hershel; he was already a little bit tipsy at this point, and it seemed as though he didn't take much notice of anything that was going on around him. It was as though he was completely obvious to the cold atmosphere around him; and even on the off chance that he was actually very aware of it, he certainly didn't seem at all uncomfortable.

Maggie's eyes were sad and pleading as they bore straight into Beth's, and as much as the younger Greene hated not being able to confront her sister about this, she knew that it was hardly the time or the place for such a discussion.

Perhaps the two of them would talk about this when they received the chance to enjoy some minutes to themselves, or perhaps Maggie would never mention anything of it to Beth and that would be that.

Either way, Beth couldn't do much about the situation right now; but if there was anything that Beth was not, it was a liar. She refused to agree with her sister's light-hearted statement when they both knew full well that Maggie was anything but clumsy, and if Beth couldn't argue against what her sister had said, then she simply wasn't going to agree with it.

The silence that had fallen over everyone on the porch was eventually broken by Hershel's booming voice as he declared that it was time for dinner to be served. That was the first time that Beth had finally broken eye contact with her sister and she immediately scanned the room for her father.

Instead of Hershel's familiar eyes, though, the first ones that Beth found were Daryl's. He was stood close by to her father with his arms now resting casually by his sides, although she could see that his hands were balled in tight fists as though he was ready to throw a punch in someone's direction. Beth was surprised to see that he had made more of an effort with his appearance than he had done the last she had seen of him; his facial hair all but vanished and his hair appearing to be much tidier now. Daryl was also dressed in a much nicer set of pants and a shirt that he hadn't bothered to wear upon his arrival to the farm, and she couldn't ignore the way in which her heart sped up ever so slightly as her eyes roamed over his attire.

Beth noticed the way in which Daryl's own eyes explored her appearance as subtly as they possibly could manage. Beth had chosen to wear a light blue dress that day that had once belonged to her mama, and she couldn't help but hope that Mister Dixon thought as much of her appearance as she did of his.

When his eyes darted up to meet hers again, Beth naturally offered him a small smile which he didn't return. Instead, he chose to simply nod his head in her direction before looking away. A longing sigh escaped from Beth's lips without much thought and it was then that she caught they eye of Patricia. The older woman was looking over at Beth with a knowing smirk, and Beth instantly felt her cheeks burning red at the sight, quickly picking up her skirts and following her father's lead into the dining room, pushing away all thoughts of Patricia and her smirks away.

* * *

Hershel was unable to sit upright by the time that the main course of their dinner was served.

Beth tried her best to fight away the feeling of humiliation as her father stumbled over his words and spilled his wine down his shirt. From where she was sat across from Beth, Maggie looked absolutely horrified at her father's behaviour. Beth wondered whether her older sister had expected her father to miraculously get any better whilst she was living out of town.

If anything, Hershel Greene had done quite the opposite.

Shane almost looked amused as Hershel struggled to drink down his wine - his lips twitching up in a horrible smirk at the sight - and Beth couldn't help the way her heart pounded in her chest and the way anger seeped through her veins at the sight of it. A very dark part of her almost wished that someone would do something to wipe that disgusting smile from his face, but she pushed those thoughts away just as quickly as they came, reminding herself that harboring hatred and anger would do her absolutely no good.

Besides, Beth hadn't ever even noticed these little things about Mister Walsh until Daryl had mentioned his dislike for the man. Before that, she had thought that her sister's husband was a decent enough man, even if he did give her the creeps.

Mister Dixon was perched on the end of his seat on the left hand side of her father, and Beth was relieved that her fiance was at least offering Hershel worried glances, even if he didn't necessarily voice any of his concerns. Beth supposed that it wasn't Daryl's place to tell her father what to do in the same that it wasn't her own.

Still, a part of her wished that someone would do s _omething._

* * *

It just so happened that nobody did anything about her father's drunken state - not that she could blame them, at all. Hershel had chosen to dismiss his daughter's a short while after their dinner had been eaten, but he did request that Mister Dixon and Mister Walsh accompany him into the living area so that they could continue with their drinking for a little while longer.

Beth had noticed that Daryl was the only one out of all three of the men who wasn't intoxicated from the wine, and a part of her couldn't help but hope that he would remain sober for the remainder of the evening. It was probably a foolish and slightly selfish part of her that thought that, and Beth wasn't even sure what it was that came over her to make her think like that in the first place. All she knew was that if it turned out that Daryl wasn't much of a drinking man, then she would be more than happy.

Patricia was informed that there was no need for her to rush up to Beth's bedroom that evening to help the young woman change into her nightclothes as she would be accompanied by Maggie for a short while so that the sisters could catch up with one another whilst the men got on with their drinking. Patricia's shoulders had noticeably sagged in relief for the briefest of seconds, and Beth considered just how much she actually did around the Greene home.

Maybe it was time for Patricia to have a break.

The walk up to Beth's bedroom was quiet with Maggie preferring to examine the portraits that decorated the walls of the house.

It was only when Beth closed her bedroom door behind them and clicked the lock of it that Maggie burst into tears.

"Oh," Beth said, her lips parted slightly as she stared wide-eyed at her sister. She was stood rooted to the spot for a long moment and it seemed like it took forever for her legs to start moving towards where Maggie was perched on the end of the bed, her face resting in her bandaged hands as her body trembled with the force of her sobs.

Beth carefully placed herself on the bed next to her sister and tentatively reached her arm out to place it onto Maggie's back, rubbing up and down in a soothing motion. She had meant for her touch to calm her sister's tears, but if anything, they only made her sobs worse.

"Maggie," Beth breathed, her lips turned down in a frown. "What ever is the matter?"

It could have been hours that they sat that way. Beth's hand was still rubbing up and down her sister's back even though her sobs were now just little sniffles, her bottom and legs feeling slightly numb from where she had been uncomfortably perched on the end of the bed for so long. Eventually, Maggie stopped crying completely and finally allowed her hands to fall down to her sides before she sat upright, slowly tilting her head up so that she was looking Beth in the eyes.

"You know you can tell me anything," Beth said, and Maggie's bottom lip quivered at her words as she nodded her head.

"I know."

Her words were stuttered and her voice was shaky, but Beth was glad that Maggie seemed to slowly be calming herself down. The older sibling took a deep breath in before her hazel eyes squeezed tightly shut as she opened her mouth and began to talk, spilling out the words that Beth had been dreading to hear.

Mister Walsh.

Of course Beth knew that the reason for her sister's strange behaviour that evening was because of him.

Of course Beth knew that her sister's breakdown had been because of him.

Of course Beth knew that the broken fingers had been because of him.

Maggie showed her the other marks that he had left across her body, too. The bruises from where objects - not just his fists, no, actual _objects_ \- had been used in an attempt to wound her.

As she talked, Maggie didn't leave Beth with much of a chance to say anything in response to her tales, and Beth thought that it was probably best not to interrupt her sister anyway. Beth didn't want to stop her from getting all of this off her chest - even if some of the events that she described were in such horrific detail that Beth couldn't help but wince and shudder involuntarily.

The more Maggie told Beth, the more confident and sure of herself she seemed to become; her voice no longer as shaky and her words no longer as stuttered. As much as it pained Beth to listen to what Maggie had to say about everything that had been happening to her, if having someone to talk to about it made her sister feel less alone, then she would listen.

"He thinks I'm having an affair," Maggie said when Beth worked up the courage to ask the only question that had been on the tip of her tongue since she had seen her sister's broken fingers: _"Why?_ _"_

"Are you?" Beth asked, trying her best to hide her surprise at Maggie's revelation.

Her sister gave her a guilty look and visibly swallowed before she slowly nodded her head.

"Not at first, though," Maggie said, as though that made the situation any better. "I wasn't at first, Bethy, I _promise._ But Mister Walsh has his mistresses too. He's forced himself upon me a handful of a times, but the women..." Maggie cleared her throat and shook her head. "There's a few people who work at our home. All women. I... He's bedded them all. And I was so lonely, and there's a man who works for our neighbour..."

Maggie's words trailed off then and she hung her head in defeat, clearly ashamed at her actions. As shocked as Beth was to hear that her sister was having an affair and as much as she knew that it went against the things that the church told them to do, she couldn't hate her sister for it or look down upon her in any way because of it.

After all, could she really blame her?

"I understand," Beth said. Her words were simple and short but Maggie's head snapped up at the sound of them and her bottom lip was wobbling again, tears threatening to pour out of her eyes once more - this time, though, they were out of happiness, out of _relief._

Beth thought that she might cry, too.

* * *

 **Okay, so I know that these chapters have been a bit light on the Bethyl stuff, but the next chapter is going to see them get married and from then on out it will be very much Bethyl-centric for a while. I hope you all like where I'm going with this story and that you don't think too much is all happening. I've made it my mission to get this chapter written today but I didn't want to rush it, either...**

 **I don't know what you class as really long chapters and the chapters in this story seem to be floating around at the 3000-4000 word mark, so I hope that they're not exactly too long or too short. Let me know what you think about chapter length because I'm always worried that it's too short at the beginning so then I edit it and put in more, and then I panic that I've crammed too much in and that it doesn't ready smoothly, yada yada yada.**

 **Anyway, I just hope you're all pleased with it.**

 **Thanks for taking the time to read this story and please review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**With the other stories I've written before, I've been able to update really, really quickly because once an idea is in my head, I can just get it all out and then it only takes a little while to edit it and then it's ready. With _this_ story, I find that I have a lot of ideas, but it takes me a while to get them written down because I end up having to do a lot of investigating and a lot of research to make sure that what I write is at least somewhat historically accurate.**

 **Now, I _have_ read that weddings weren't really big ceremonies and that's why I've only written that family attend, but so many of you who have reviewed have been excited to read about the wedding and what Beth will wear and how they'll celebrate so I decided to try and mix it up to what would be contextually right and what you all would like to read. So yeah... For those of you who are very into the time period and feel like I'm betraying it by making a big deal of the wedding, I am sorry, but I don't want to let down people who are excited to read about those little details. **

**I'll stop rambling now. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Beth had to hand it to Patricia who had organised the entire event all by herself in such a short amount of time: the wedding was more beautiful than she could have ever wanted, imagined or expected.

It was her own horse, Nelly, who pulled the carriage that led her into town. In accordance with tradition, Beth hadn't seen Daryl that morning, and instead he had headed out towards the church in his own carriage pulled by his own horse about an hour or so before. Beth had been expecting her father to accompany him, but Hershel chose to stay behind and ride into town with Patricia and Otis whilst Maggie and Shane headed in together, too.

Beth didn't know much about Daryl's family apart from the fact that he had an older brother, and she knew that he had stayed in America so he wouldn't be here to see the wedding. Beth wasn't sure whether or not she should be sad that none of Daryl's family would attend the ceremony; but she reminded herself that a party had been organised that afternoon to celebrate and that some of Daryl's friends would be attending that, so it wasn't as though he was completely on his own.

Since Maggie had to get herself ready, it had been Patricia who had helped Beth change from her nightdress into her wedding attire. The older woman brought the dress that they had picked from town the day before up to her bedroom and got straight to work on removing the pins from Beth's hair that made it fall down her shoulders in perfect curls before Patricia twisted it up into low bun that had a braid wrapped around it, leaving only a few strands of hair to fall onto her face.

Beth sat patiently whilst Patricia tugged and pulled at her hair, not caring very much to be gentle. Beth was more than used to her prodding hands by now and barely grimaced despite the fact that Patricia's styling did cause her some discomfort. Once her hair was finished, Patricia helped Beth into the wedding gown; tying the strings of the corset as tight as they would go so that Beth felt like her bones were being crushed by the material. The dress itself was plain and simple with only a little amount of lace detail embroidered onto it. A crown of assorted flowers that had been freshly picked that morning was placed on top of Beth's head, and when she was finally ready, Patricia took a slight step back and looked the young woman up and down.

"How do I look?" Beth asked, a little nervous. Patricia just beamed at her.

"Radiant," she said with a nod of her head. "You look absolutely _radiant,_ ma'am."

* * *

It was the first time in a long time that Beth had seen her father sober.

As she made her way downstairs with Patricia following closely behind, Beth noticed him immediately; stood by the front door, his fingers fidgeting awkwardly with a white handkerchief. Hershel had his back facing them and it was only when Beth reached the bottom of the stairs and cleared her throat audibly that he turned around to face her.

Beth remembered Maggie's wedding all too well. The way that her father had been far too drunk and had barely even made it to the church. The way that he had fallen asleep as the service was just beginning. Those memories were ones that would probably stick with her for a very long time; the image of her fighting to try and keep him awake at all costs in the front pew of the church burning strong in her memory. Both sisters had been embarrassed by their father's behaviour, and Beth remembered how disappointed Maggie had looked when she realised that her daddy had all but missed the whole of her wedding ceremony because he was passed out drunk on the front row.

Today, Hershel was different, and Beth couldn't help but wonder why. She could tell from his pale skin and his trembling hands and his wide eyes that he was itching for a drink, but she was pleased to see that so far, he seemed sober.

 _At least he could stand upright by himself._

"Bethy."

The sound of him breathing out her pet name made her almost want to sob, but she managed to compose herself very quickly as she slowly made her way over towards where her father was stood, only offering him a shy smile in return.

When she reached where he was stood, Hershel cupped one of her cheeks in his hands and swiped his thumb across it affectionately, a soft smile on his face and his eyes kind. Beth supposed that as much as this was an important day for her, it was for him, too. His youngest daughter would be leaving the family home - most of her belongings already packed up on a cart heading over towards the property that Daryl occupied in town - and leaving him to live in this large farmhouse very much alone.

Not that it would impact him much, in reality. After all, Hershel never spent much time with his daughter anymore; choosing to socialise with his friends who would visit until the early hours of the next morning and would drink until their bellies couldn't handle any more alcohol.

"You look beautiful," her father murmured, a softness in his voice that she hadn't heard for a long time. Her breath hitched in her throat as his words and she fought the strong urge to cry.

Today was the day that she would finally become a woman. There was no time for tears in womanhood.

"I'm so proud of you," Hershel said, his hands finally dropping from her face. Beth was overcome with an unfamiliar sensation of shyness, and she simply bowed her head as her face burned crimson.

"The carriage is outside, ma'am," Patricia said, interrupting the moment. Beth was thankful for the disturbance and took several steps backwards from her father, heading towards the door that Patricia was holding open for her.

She never knew how to behave around her father these days.

* * *

The audience for their wedding was very small indeed; just her father, her sister and her brother-in-law, along with Patricia and Otis. Shane had initially sneered at the news that 'the help' (as he chose to call them) would be accompanying them to the wedding, but Beth had just jutted out her chin and made it as clear - and politely - as she possibly could that it was _her_ wedding and the people there were _her_ guests.

Besides, Patricia and Otis were practically classed as family, anyway.

Shane didn't put up much of a fight about it, although Beth couldn't be sure whether it was because she actually managed to pull off being authoritative, or whether it was because Daryl had been stood close by during the entire altercation, his body tense as he stared down Shane.

She supposed it was most likely the latter.

The wedding itself was traditional, with Father Gabriel leading the service. The only wedding that she had attended had been Maggie's, and so that was the only one that she could compare her own to. She might have been being slightly biased, but she personally thought that her own wedding was much more intimate than her sister's had been. Beth remembered Shane's family littering the pews of the church and how many of the men in attendance - including Hershel - had been too drunk to even realise where they were, never mind what was going on around them.

The ceremony passed by quicker than Beth thought it would, although she supposed that it probably would feel that way for her considering it was her own wedding. At some point, her nerves melted away and Beth became more and more confident as she stood there at the altar next to the man who would soon be named her husband.

When the time came for Daryl and Beth to kiss, she realised just how _excited_ she was to feel his lips pressing against hers. True, she still wasn't completely happy about the situation that they were getting married in, but Beth couldn't bring it upon herself to harbour any negative feelings towards this man. It wasn't Daryl's fault that she had dreamed of a different life and from what she knew of him so far - albeit, it wasn't much - he seemed like a decent man.

Before she had opened her eyes to see what Shane was really like with her sister, Beth had thought that her father would only marry off his daughter's to men who were good, but now she knew much better than that. Still, she thought that he would make a decent husband for her.

Daryl's lips were softer than she imagined they would be and even though their chaste kiss barely lasted several seconds, Beth's heart was pounding in her chest and ringing in her ears as though their embrace was much more heated and passionate. Daryl offered her a ghost of a smile that she couldn't help but return, and even though their guests were clapping now that they were officially named husband and wife, Beth felt more than a little embarrassed.

Her first kiss with her husband had just been witnessed by her whole family. She supposed that that was enough of a reason for her cheeks to be a twinged pink colour.

As she and her new husband left the church hand in hand, Beth tried not to think about the ways in which they would consummate their marriage later on.

* * *

Even though Patricia had attended the wedding, she had still made sure that she had prepared enough food for the party that would follow after it.

Her father had insisted that they invite plenty of guests to the Greene family home after the wedding which had taken place early in the morning, and it was only shortly after the wedding party had all arrived back at the farm that guests began to arrive. Beth stayed in her wedding gown for a little while so that the guests could see her in it - particularly the women who she knew from town, like Lori and Andrea and Amy, who all fawned over the gown and complimented Beth on how beautiful it was - but once she was certain that everyone had arrived, Beth made quick work of changing into another one of her dresses that she felt much more comfortable in.

Most of her belongings had already been sent to Daryl's home that wasn't too far a journey from the Greene farm, but she had requested that a few of her things be kept in her room - just in case. Now that she was able to change into an emerald dress that fitted a little more comfortably than the tight wedding gown, Beth felt much better and much more relaxed.

The party was in full swing for the majority of the day, with Patricia having cooked delicious food that the guests were happily indulging in, and cups of wine being poured all round. Beth tried not to keep an eye on her father's intake of alcohol - after all, he was a grown man who could make his own decisions - but she was pleased to see that so far, he seemed to be stone-cold sober. Music was played and the people danced happily, even Maggie seeming to be having a good time.

Initially, Beth hadn't wanted to ask Daryl to dance with her - he had seemed so preoccupied conversing with some of the guests (mostly Rick Grimes and her father) and she hadn't wanted to disturb that. Eventually, though, Maggie elbowed her lightly in the ribs and gave her a knowing look that Beth could only sigh at before she made her way over to her husband.

Her _husband._

"Daryl," she said as she approached, and he quickly turned around to face her, his expression unreadable. "Dance with me."

It came out more of a command than she intended, and she hoped that Daryl didn't mind her speaking in such a way to him. He was her husband now but that didn't mean that she really knew how to act around him. She still had a lot to learn about the man, just as he had a lot to learn about her.

Daryl frowned at her words but nodded his head at her anyway, looking a little uncertain as Beth took his hand in hers and guided him to where other couples were dancing.

"Don't really know how t'dance," he admitted, and Beth nodded her head in understanding as she guided one of his hands to the small of her back and placed one of hers on his broad shoulders. She was overcome with the urge to run her hands down his chest and his biceps and explore the skin there, but she pushed those temptations away and offered him a sweet smile instead.

"I'll show you," she said in a soft tone before she made the first move in accordance with the music.

He may not have been the best dancer that she had ever met - a little stiff on his feet and not really relaxing into the music - but still, he was a quick learner and followed her lead quite well. Beth enjoyed her time dancing with Daryl and regretted when she finally felt that it was time for her to pull away.

"Will we be staying here tonight?" Beth asked as the song that they had been dancing to finished, and Daryl shook his head no. "Okay," Beth said with a nod, removing her hand from Daryl's shoulder as he brought his own back down to his sides. "Fetch me when you're wanting to leave?"

"Of course," Daryl said, but before Beth could turn to walk away and entertain her guests some more, Daryl tugged on her hand. Beth's blue eyes went wide as he brought the back of her hand up to his lips and placed a gentle kiss against it, holding eye contact with her the whole time. The gesture instantly reminded her of the first time that they had met just a few days ago, and her heart rate increased rapidly at the sight of him being so affectionate with her.

If the way he was behaving this evening was anything to go by, then Beth was certain that her assumption that Daryl would be a good husband just _had_ to be correct.

* * *

It wasn't too late when the couple finally decided to make their way towards Daryl's home.

Hershel had looked emotional as he opened the door for his youngest daughter to step into Daryl's grand carriage, and Beth placed a kiss on his cheek before climbing in. Daryl shook her father's hand before following her in, and Beth waved tentatively as the carriage began to pull away from the only place that she had ever known to be home.

"How are you feelin'?" Daryl asked after they had pulled out of the last bit of land that belonged to the Greene farm. Beth shrugged her shoulders and offered her husband a shy smile in response.

"I'm okay," she said, not really sure how to answer that question.

How _did_ she feel?

The bitterness and anger that had first sparked within her towards her father when she found out that she was going to marry Mister Dixon had slowly slipped away over the last few days. She would never truly be comfortable with the way that he had treated her and would always wish that he at least gave her the opportunity to meet this man before they became engaged and gave her a choice in the matter, but Beth felt as though there would be no point in dwelling on what could have or what should have been.

Instead, Beth reflected on the more positive emotions that were flowing within her. Beth was still high on adrenaline from the wedding day and was surprisingly happy to be here with Daryl. For a while, she had been worried that the two of them would never get along - after all, Daryl was so quiet and brooding and _different_ to any men that she had ever interacted with - but things seemed plenty amicable between them. The physical attraction had been there between them almost instantly; at least for Beth, it had been - she couldn't speak for Daryl.

But now that she was slowly beginning to get to know him, the attraction was brewing and Beth was certain that in time, she would grow to love this man.

"How are you?" Beth asked.

Daryl mimicked her and shrugged his shoulders in a way that made her smile.

"M'alright," he told her, and Beth nodded her head at that, not quite knowing what to say back to that, so she didn't.

The rest of the journey to Daryl's home was undergone in silence, and Beth's eyelids were drooping shut from exhaustion after the long day that the couple had experienced. When the carriage finally came to a standstill, Daryl reached out his hand and brushed it across her cheek in a gentle manner that stirred her awake from the light state of slumber that she had been so close to entering.

Beth blinked sleepily a few times before her eyes widened in recognition and she immediately apologised for almost falling asleep. As much as she didn't want to admit it, Beth partly expected Daryl to be angry for her behaviour. It wasn't like she was an expert about men and had no idea how husbands reacted to their wives - well, except for what she had seen of her parents marriage, but that had been completely different to the one that her and Daryl now had; and the way that Shane was with Maggie, but that, too, was completely different.

"Don't apologise t'me, girl," Daryl said, his voice low as he moved to push the carriage door open. "Y'ain't got nothin' to be sorry for."

Beth allowed herself to remain seated for several more seconds as she took in his words before she pulled herself upwards and made her way out of the carriage, accepting Daryl's hand to help her out of it. She offered him a sweet smile and thanked him before allowing her eyes to move from his and towards the building that she would now call home.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading and please review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I think I've mentioned it before, but just in case I haven't, I wanted to quickly point out that in this story, the house that Beth lived in with Hershel was much larger than the one that they lived in on the show, and the house that she moves into with Daryl is more similar to the Greene farmhouse that was on the show.**

 **In all honesty, what the houses look like isn't particularly important, but if you are struggling to visualise either of them, then I hope that explanation makes both houses a little easier to picture.**

* * *

Daryl's house was anything but what she had been expecting.

In reality, Beth couldn't even describe what exactly it was that she had been expecting in terms of Daryl's living arrangements. Her father had warned her that life with her husband in this house may not be as comfortable as the one that she had been used to for so long simply because this was not Daryl's permanent place of residence and so there was no need for it to be homely.

So much had happened in the past few days and it had been truthfully overwhelming and emotionally exhausting for her. A lot of things were swarming around Beth's mind at once; what, with meeting her new husband and accepting how life was about to completely change for her, dealing with her drunk of a father and trying to make sure that he didn't get himself in too much trouble and learning that her older sister's husband is an abusive monster, it was perfectly understandable why she had not put much thought into what her new home might look like.

Still, Beth was pleasantly surprised with it. In a way, the house almost reminded her of the place that she had spent her twenty years living in alongside her family.

From what she could see on the outside, the house was simple, but beautiful. It was built with wood that had been painted white and there was a porch and steps of a matching colour. Two thick beams rested on either side of the front door that had been decorated a deep shade of red and there was an old rocking chair sat in the left corner, looking out onto the land. Six windows were visible from the front, and all of those six had an assorted range of flowers resting neatly on the window ledge.

Land stretched around them for what seemed like miles, and Beth could see what she could only imagine was a barn a little further down one of the fields to the left of the house. There was a quietness that surrounded them there and Beth was glad that things seemed peaceful here.

"C'mon," Daryl said after giving her a minute or two to take in the sights of the place that she would now call her home.

The sound of his gruff voice broke her from her thoughts and she shook her head quickly from left to right as if it might help bring her back out of her own mind. Whilst she had been taking in the sights of the house, it seemed that Daryl had been taking in her; his deep blue eyes narrowed and his lips pressed into a tight line, his hands resting on his hips whilst he waited for her. Beth had been observing him over the past few days and had noticed that patience didn't seem to be his strong suit, but she reasoned with herself that it looked as though he was at least trying to be patient around her, and she appreciated that effort.

Beth didn't realise that she had been staring at Daryl with a blank expression on her face until he let out a frustrated sigh. He turned on his heel and began to make his way up the porch steps of the house, not bothering to give her a second glance, and after a beat of two Beth gathered up her skirts and followed quickly behind him.

From what she could tell, there were only a handful of workers dotted around the house - three, maybe four at most. The house was larger than she had given it credit for when she first took all of it in, and even though i wasn't as grand as the home that she had been accustomed to, it was definitely more than big enough for her and Daryl to live in.

Beth tentatively stepped over the threshold of the home, her eyes wide and curious as they roamed over the sights of the sitting room that they walked straight into, the sight of a kitchen area just visible from round a corner. Beth slowly shut the front door behind her, wincing a little as it creaked unexpectedly. Daryl was facing her as she turned back around, his deep blue eyes boring straight into her own as he caught her slightly off guard.

It seemed that his natural expression was a scowl. Even though he had been polite and kind to her and had smiled - and even laughed, too - in her presence on a number of occasions, Beth noticed that he always ended up scowling or at least frowning one way or another. She had wondered to herself on several occasions whether her husband actually realised that he was doing it or whether it was just a natural reaction that he didn't even know he did.

Still, scowl or no scowl, the man was handsome enough; there was no denying that, especially not when he was stood there in front of her in his dress clothes. And this man was now her _husband._

The realisation that they had now arrived home suddenly struck her. The two of them had arrived here as a married couple and Beth fought against her natural reaction to blush when it dawned upon her that there was still one more thing left for her - no, left for _them_ \- to do today.

Consummating the marriage had been a daunting thought that Beth had tried her hardest to stay away from. After all, she supposed that it would do her no good to dwell on it - every woman would have to go through it and it was just as necessary for her to please her husband as it was for her to bear children. But now that the two of them were finally there, stood at the bottom of the stairs with eyes locked on one another, Beth realised that she really had no idea about how she was going to pull this one off.

Patricia may have planned the wedding, but nobody had prepared her for what was about to come.

Before Beth had the opportunity to think on it any more, Daryl cleared his throat and shuffled his feet in an almost awkward manner, his eyes roaming around the walls of the house as he took everything in, too. Beth recalled how Patricia had mentioned that Daryl had come straight from the boat that had transported him from America to the Greene farm and how he had not returned to the home that he owned in town, choosing instead to meet with her and her father. Beth realised that this was the first time that Daryl had stepped back into this house after a long few months - perhaps even a long few years.

"Know it ain't much," Daryl mumbled as he looked around the walls, bringing up a hand to rub at the back of his neck.

A part of her wanted to interrupt him there and then, to reassure him that this house was more than enough for her. Beth wanted to say that his home was beautiful and that the flowers that were placed on the table were so bright and pretty and that the paintings that hung neatly on the walls were marvelous and that as his wife, it didn't even matter at all, because it was her duty to live with him - wherever he chose for them to stay - and she would stay there regardless of whether it had flowers or paintings or fancy furniture.

But Beth chose to keep her mouth firmly shut.

It seemed as though words just didn't want to come to her today.

"But we might not be 'round here much longer, anyway," he continued, eyes finally locking with hers.

His last comment perked her curiosity and Beth visibly swallowed before she responded to him.

"Do you plan to return to America?" she asked, and Daryl nodded sharply. Beth's heart was hammering in her chest as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, her eyes downcast to the floor as she asked him the question that had been worrying her mind for the past few days. "Do you intend to take me there with you?"

Beth's light eyes danced back up to meet his and she noticed that his own eyes had narrowed impossibly more after her last question.

"What else am I gonna do with you?" he asked, his tone sharp, and Beth suddenly felt incredibly embarrassed.

She supposed that answered her question well enough, but she chose not to answer his own, deciding it was probably best not to say anything else out of not wanting to irritate him.

A long few moments of silence passed between them before Daryl let out a heavy sigh.

"Anythin' else?" he asked, his brow raised ever so slightly, and Beth couldn't quite decide on whether she thought his tone was one of seriousness or sarcasm. Although she was steering towards the latter, Beth assumed that it would probably best to just take him seriously and simply shook her head from side to side to indicate her answer. "Alrigh'," Daryl breathed, looking slightly relieved. "I'll take you on a tour of this place in the mornin'. For now, guess I'll jus' show you to your room. Already had your things put in the wardrobe for you, but you can ask to have 'em moved or re-arranged if you wan'."

Beth nodded her head.

"My room?" she asked, still frozen on the spot as she found her voice once more.

Daryl shrugged his shoulders at her.

"Well," he said as he scratched at his chin. "Guess you can call it _our_ room. If you want. Hell if I know what you wanna call it. S'just a room."

Daryl didn't give her chance to say anything back to that as he began to lead the way up the wooden stairs of the house. Beth had known that they would be sharing a room considering the fact that he was now her husband, but as she followed him up the rickety stairs, she became overridden with a sense of nervousness as she pondered over what exactly he was expecting of her that evening.

The pair reached the top of the first flight of stairs and Beth couldn't help but wonder what was on the second floor of the house.

"S'where the workers stay," Daryl said, having noticed how she was craning her neck and curiously looking around to see if there were any hints as to what was up there. Beth didn't comment on the new information that he had provided her with and chose to follow him in silence across the landing as he headed towards one of the doors.

Daryl turned the doorknob in his hands before he pushed it open and stood to the side, motioning for her to go in before he did. Beth smiled up at him as she scooted past him, but Daryl chose not to return the gesture and instead look straight over her head, his eyes boring directly into the door frame whilst she passed. Beth resisted the urge to sigh in defeat as she made her way into the bedroom, concentrating instead on the presentation of it all.

In the middle of the room sat a four poster kind size bed that had dark brown beams that matched the wooden flooring. The bed was positioned so that it was facing out of the large bay window that looked out over the back of the land that surrounded the property. The curtains that were hanging at the window fell to the floor and were a deep cream colour that perfectly matched the colour of the bed sheets, and there was also a large dark wooden chest of drawers and a wardrobe on the right hand wall. Beth noted that there was a closed door on the left wall and she guessed that it led straight into the bathing room.

Beth ran her hands across one of the dark posts of the bed as Daryl followed her into the room, shutting the door to a close behind him. His eyes roamed over everything in a similar way that Beth's had, only he didn't look anywhere near as impressed with everything as she did.

"Ain't much," he mumbled, more to himself than to her, but Beth shook her head regardless before she turned her body towards him, their eyes meeting from across the room.

"No," she said, her tone soft. "It's beautiful. It's perfect. I love it."

The last thing that she had intended her words to do was make Daryl feel uncomfortable, but he certainly seemed it as he stared at her with extreme uncertainty. For the first time since she had learned of their impending marriage, Beth wondered whether Daryl was just as unsure about their new arrangement as she was.

Beth couldn't be sure how long the two of them were stood there for, the sound of their breathing the only thing that echoed through the room as they looked straight at one another. Although this seemed to be new territory for the two of them, Beth decided that it most definitely was much more new for her since she doubted that her husband had been celibate for his whole life the way that she had been.

Things were much different for men than they were for women like her, and she had heard whispers about how there were even some women who made a living by offering themselves to men.

Thankfully, it was Daryl who made the first move towards her; edging ever so slightly towards her at such a slow pace that Beth had to wonder whether he was expecting her to bolt like a frightened fawn at any sudden movement. Had the tension in the air around them not been so thick, Beth may have giggled at his behaviour, but all she could do was watch with widened eyes as he slowly but surely made his way towards her.

It was only when Daryl was stood directly in front of her - when he was so close to her that she could feel his cool breath on her face, when he was so close that if he were shorter then their noses would have probably been touching one another - that Beth realised just how violently her heart was beating in her chest. It was a shock to her that her body wasn't trembling and shaking from the anticipation that she felt in that moment, but she put her calm exterior on the fact that it was adrenaline overwhelming her in that moment.

"Beth," Daryl breathed, and her breath hitched in her chest at the sound of her name on his tongue.

She had never heard anyone speak to her in the way that he did then. His eyes were locked on hers, hungry and wanting, and Beth remembered the way in which her stomach had bubbled when he kissed her in the church earlier on that day. She was desperate to feel his lips pressed against hers once again.

It turned out that Beth didn't have to wait long at all. She watched as Daryl's tongue dipped out of his parted lips agonisingly slowly and ran across them briefly before he finally dipped his head and pushed them against hers with a gentleness that she hadn't been expecting. After a second or two, Beth returned his kiss with an equal pressure, welcoming the light-headedness that overcame her when his lips met with hers.

Beth tried not to think too much about what was set to happen between them when his hands came to rest on her hips, and she followed her natural instinct and allowed one of her own to snake up his chest and reach up into the hair at the back of his head. Daryl responded to her touch by gliding his tongue against her bottom lip, and Beth's mouth parted before she even knew what was happening. Her eyes opened in surprise for a brief second when his tongue pushed against hers, the action causing the hairs on her arms to raise, before she relaxed into their kiss once more and mimicked his movements.

After some time of enjoying kissing him, Beth knew that her husband wanted things between them to move on as his fingertips skimmed up the back of her dress and reached the top of it so that he could begin to tug on the lace of her corset. As her dress began to loosen with his movements, Daryl pulled away from her so that their kiss was broken, and Beth felt as though she was almost in a dream-like state as she looked up at him with hooded eyes.

Daryl looked at her for a long moment before he spoke.

"Is this what you want?"

Beth let out a shaky breath as she realised what he was asking her, when she realised that he was asking for her permission. She couldn't lie to herself and say that she had been expecting him to be like this. No, she had expected her husband to be dominant and decisive and controlling; for him to tell her what to do, not for him to ask. Beth hadn't thought that Daryl would be like men like Mister Walsh, but she hadn't thought that he would be quite so considerate, either.

Beth nodded her head once, not wanting to leave him waiting too long for an answer.

"Yes," she said simply.

In all honesty, it was what she wanted. She may not have known much about her husband and she may not have been able to say that she loved him the way that she wished she could, but Beth knew that it was her duty as a wife to lay down in bed with Daryl tonight. As nervous and apprehensive as she was, Beth wanted to be a good wife, and that started now.

Daryl pressed his lips to hers once more as he tugged on the material of her dress, causing it to fall down her shoulders. She assisted in tugging at the dress so that it fell further down her body and eventually landed in a pile at her feet, covering her shoes and leaving her in her underwear. Daryl moved his head back away from her as Beth slipped her shoes from her feet underneath the gown that remained lay on the floor, and his eyes hungrily explored her exposed flesh as she did so.

Beth swallowed down the lump in her throat when she had finished removing her shoes and locked eyes with him once more. She was overwhelmed with the desire that had blown Daryl's pupils wide and dark, and she nervously bit down on her bottom lip as his gaze roamed over her exposed chest. Beth had always thought very little of her small breasts and had longed for the time when they would swell the way that her friends had, but that time had never arrived for her. As she stood in front of him, she suddenly realised that she was wearing much more than he was, and she quickly decided that his fully dressed state was incredibly unfair.

Daryl seemed to understand what Beth wanted when she began to tug at the bottom of his dress shirt and he wasted no time in discarding his own clothes, leaving them thrown messily across the floor in a similar manner to her own dress. Beth was much more shy about exploring the view of his body than he had been with hers and her cheeks blushed a furious shade of red at the sight of his exposed chest.

Beth obliged as Daryl led her to the bed and she lay down across it on her back, her breath hitching when Daryl crawled over on top of her, his hands resting on either side of her head as his eyes trailed over her face for any sign of reluctance from her. Beth moved her head upwards slightly and parted her lips, silently pleading with him to kiss her again.

She wasn't disappointed when he did and although she had been quiet up to now, Beth hummed happily into his mouth as Daryl pushed himself down against her. Just a few moments later, Daryl's fingers were trailing up Beth's bare thigh and tugging on her underwear, bidding for it to cascade down her legs in a similar manner to her dress. Beth raised her hips up from the bed to assist him in his movements and Daryl discarded of the garment quickly enough, breaking the kiss for a moment as he gazed down at her bare sex.

Suddenly very aware of his hungry eyes, Beth pushed her thighs closer together and shifted awkwardly beneath him. Daryl looked back up at her for a long moment before he moved one of his hands to her knee and pushed against her gently, encouraging her to re-open her legs. Beth swallowed before she complied, trying to ignore the insecurity that she felt within her own body.

"You say the word an' we'll stop," Daryl murmured against her lips, and Beth nodded to show that she understood before he kissed her again. Their kiss was slow this time as Daryl moved his hand from her knee up towards her core and began to brush against her with his fingers.

The sudden contact surprised her and the feeling was foreign, causing her to inadvertently buck her hips against his hand. He probed his fingers against her once, twice, three times before he slowly used one to enter her, groaning into her mouth as he did so. Beth winced slightly at the sensation, noting how strange it felt to have a part of him inside her, but the discomfort quickly passed and Beth began to enjoy the feeling as he moved his digit in and out of her at a steady pace. She whimpered when he removed himself from inside of her but wasn't disappointed for long as his damp finger moved upwards and flicked against her clit.

Beth's eyes shot open and she gasped simultaneously, her legs trembling as he began to move the pad of his finger in a circular movement over her. Beth whimpered and whined and mewled, surprised at the noises that were tumbling out of her mouth and her throat, but ignoring them all the same. Their kiss had been broken when she had pushed her head back against one of the pillows and Daryl had taken the opportunity to place wet kisses along the column of her throat.

He pulled his finger away from her all too soon for her liking and Beth almost screamed when he moved away from her properly, her eyes squeezing shut as she rocked her hips upwards, panting and silently calling for him to come back to her and continue with his movements. Daryl chuckled against her neck before he tugged at the hem of his own underwear, kicking the material down his legs and pushing himself against her so that she could feel his hardness pressed against her thigh. Beth's hooded eyes flickered down in an attempt to take in the sight of him, her curiosity getting the better of her, and she couldn't help but wonder how on earth _that_ was going to fit inside of her.

Daryl had wet his fingers with his saliva and brought his hand down from his mouth back towards her center, rubbing in circles so that the wetness spread across her entrance and the hood of her clit. Beth hummed appreciatively at the sensation and watched as he lined himself up with her entrance, a look of pure concentration on his face as he moved.

The pair of them remained frozen in position for a few seconds, their eyes boring directly into one another's the whole time before Daryl slowly pushed himself inside of her.

It stung.

Beth tried not to look too uncomfortable as he sank further and further inside, one of his hands cupping the side of her face whilst the other was placed next to her head and holding him upright. He muttered several apologies each time her brow furrowed or her eyes narrowed or her jaw clenched, and Beth was shocked that her heart didn't burst within her chest each time that he whispered a _"sorry_ " to her.

It felt like it took far too long for him to be placed firmly inside of her and he cursed when he eventually buried himself in to the hilt, their eye contact finally breaking when Daryl closed his eyes and groaned at the sensation. He pushed his body down low and rested his head into the crook of her neck, whispering to her about how tight she felt around him and how good she was being for him.

Beth's cheeks burned red at his words and she chose not to return them, instead offering him a weak smile that he couldn't see as he began to pump himself inside of her. Beth didn't attempt to hold back the gasps and whimpers that rolled out from her parted lips as he moved himself inside of her, and it wasn't long until she began to find a rhythm along with him; moving her own hips in time with his instead of just laying still on the bed.

Daryl groaned as she moved with him and pushed himself upright once more, placing his hands on her thighs in a rough hold as he picked up his speed. Beth's eyes widened in surprise at his bold movements but she didn't protest against them, finding that she enjoyed the way he continually hit against her as he pounded in and out of her.

Instinct took over when Daryl's rhythm began to falter and she realised that he was close to achieving the orgasm that he had been chasing. She raised her hips off the bed slightly in an attempt to give him better access to her and he cursed under his breath once more at her movements, his eyes screwed close and his mouth hanging open as he panted loudly. Beth bit down on her lip and breathed his name experimentally, surprised at the way his eyes flew open when she did so and the way that he convulsed inside of her, his body shuddering and his grip on her thighs tightening impossibly as he rode out his pleasure.

Beth smiled lazily up at him when he eventually opened his eyes once again and he smirked back down at her before collapsing on top of her body, sweat trickling down his forehead. Beth placed a gentle kiss against his temple and spent a short while running her hands through his hair, enjoying in the way that he seemed to be so relaxed and calm now.

The relaxed state that he had been in didn't last forever, though, and Daryl rolled himself onto the opposite side of the bed a short while later. Beth immediately missed his closeness and wondered if it would be too bold of her to crawl over and place her head onto his chest.

"S'been a long day," Daryl breathed, his voice raspy. Beth nodded. "Y'should get some sleep."

"Okay," she said immediately, the tiredness suddenly creeping over her. "Should we dress into our nightclothes?" she asked after a moment, and Daryl shrugged his shoulders.

"If you want," he told her, and Beth noticed that his own eyes were fluttering to a close.

She began to fidget with her pillow as she contemplated it, finally deciding that she was plenty exhausted and would rather not move from the comfortable bed.

"Goodnight, Daryl," she whispered into the darkness when she felt sleep overcoming her, and Daryl grunted in response before shifting ever so slightly. Beth sighed happily before her own eyes drifted shut, relieved to be able to relax - even if it was just for the night.

* * *

 **I hope the sex wasn't too awkward. Given the fact that Beth has had a lot on her mind the past few days and that her life has completely changed along with the fact that this is supposed to be her first time ever doing anything at all with a man, I didn't think it was very realistic for her to orgasm. I don't know if you agree, I just think that Beth is going to have to learn a lot about Daryl in the same way that he is going to have to learn a lot about her - just because they're married doesn't instantly mean that they know everything about the other and that they're fiercely in love. That will all come with time.**

 **Anyway, I hope you all weren't disappointed with their first night together.**

 **Thanks for reading and please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**If any of you have read any of my other Bethyl fics, then you'll know that I struggle writing from Daryl's POV. This fic in particular just seems to come more naturally to me from Beth's perspective.**

 _ **However,**_ **I did try and start writing out this chapter in Beth's POV... And I don't even really know what happened. Basically, it just didn't. This chapter screamed Daryl at me so I just went along with it. Anyway, I hope that I've managed to pull off his POV (I've been mulling over this chapter and tweaking it for the last few hours) and I hope that you're happy with it, too.**

 **I also just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who has followed/favourited/reviewed this story so far. You're all so kind and your positive words are so encouraging and really motivate me to stick with this story, especially when I start to struggle with where to take it.**

* * *

When Daryl awoke in his bed the next morning, he quickly realised that at some point during the night, he had moved from the side of the bed that he had sectioned off as his own and had somehow positioned himself directly on top of Beth. His head was resting snugly underneath Beth's chin, her hair falling down her bare chest and tickling his nose softly, and his face was nestled right in between her pert breasts. The position that he lay in meant that he found himself moving along with the rise and fall of her chest and Daryl decided that the sensation itself was calming in a way that was very unfamiliar to him.

The covers were enveloped around the pair of them and were pulled over Daryl's back, and the couple were very much still in a state of undress as they lay together. Although Daryl couldn't see his wife's face from where he was positioned, he was certain that she was awake from the way that she was humming softly to herself - a tune that he faintly recognised, but couldn't name - and running her fingers through the locks of his dark hair.

The woman had clearly not noticed that Daryl had awoken from his sleep yet and he attempted to remain still as best as he could for at least the next few minutes so to keep her under that illusion. Indulging in her gentle touch was something that Daryl could not resist, not even if he wanted to; and although he had never experienced anything like this before and although he knew that the only reason Beth was behaving so affectionately towards him was because that she thought that he was still fast asleep, Daryl enjoyed the feeling nonetheless.

When Beth's fingernails began to run lightly over his scalp, it became absolutely impossible for Daryl to bite back the moan of pleasure that had been so desperate to escape him for the last long few minutes. The sound itself was slightly muffled from where his mouth rested against her soft skin, but regardless, Beth heard it. She froze immediately; her humming ceasing as her hands locked tightly around him - still present in his hair, but their movements completely stilled. Daryl could feel the way that her heart rate picked up against her chest just beneath him, able to hear it thundering loudly in his ear as though it were in his own chest. He took the opportunity of her stillness to pretend that he was only just stirring from his sleep, hoping that he pulled off looking confused about how he ended up lay across her well enough.

Well, at least that was actually the truth. Daryl genuinely did have absolutely no idea about how he had managed to find himself wrapped up around Beth; his hands loosely holding her around her little waist and his legs all tangled up with hers beneath the sheets. Daryl pushed out a yawn and stretched his body upwards, blinking several times and attempting to seem surprised.

Daryl moved his arms from beneath Beth so that he could push himself upwards, resting on his elbows as he looked directly up at her, hoping to himself that he didn't look more awake and alert than he should be at that moment. Beth's cheeks were painted with a rosy pink colour that Daryl suddenly decided he liked far too much and her lips formed the shape of a small 'o', her blue eyes wide and dancing with an emotion that he couldn't quite place.

It took a few moments of them staring at each other before Daryl went to clear his throat, and the sound seemed to snap Beth out of whatever spell she had been under. She shook her head from side to side as though to compose herself and then she quickly dropped her hands from where they were still wrapped up in his hair, letting them fall a little awkwardly back to her sides.

"G'mornin'," Daryl grunted as he pushed himself further backwards from her so that he was resting upon his knees, the heavy covers that had enveloped the pair of them falling down his back and covering only his feet at his sudden movements. Daryl ignored the immediate loss of warmth that he felt and closed his eyes, rubbing at them with the backs of his hands as he tried his best to distract himself from the knowledge that Beth was still lay beneath him wearing absolutely nothing.

She chose only to hum in response to his greeting and Daryl slowly blinked his eyes open once more, hoping to himself that Bet wasn't paying any attention to his aroused state.

But she was.

Daryl wondered to himself how on earth Beth's eyes always managed to stay so impossibly big and wide; all light blue and soft and kind, but curious, too. They flickered up from his face and back down several times before her whole face turned crimson, and Daryl swallowed down his own embarrassment and chose to offer her a smirk instead, feigning confidence.

"C'mon, girl," Daryl said as he placed a hand on her thigh and gave it a tight squeeze before he could even realise what it was that he was doing. He quickly yanked his hand away from her leg as quickly as he put it there and mentally cursed at her skin for being so damn soft.

Beth blinked up at him with surprise and confusion etched across her features, but still she chose not to say anything to him. Daryl could only let out a frustrated sigh, finding himself growing impatient but trying his best to keep himself in check. There would be no use blowing his short fuse with her, after all. It wasn't like he could blame her for the awkwardness that swarmed them; it wasn't Beth's fault that she was stuck here with him, not a clue in the world about how to behave around a man that she barely knew, but now had to call her husband.

"Promised you a tour, didn't I?" Daryl managed to grind out, and she was rewarded for his patience and attempt at kind words with a little smile from her.

Beth chose to take the opportunity to move then, positioning herself so that she was up on her knees, mimicking his own position and sitting so that their faces were almost at a level height. Daryl watched the young woman intently, willing his eyes not to wander too far south from her face. After all, she may have been his wife now and he also may have seen every inch of her skin last night, but there was something decidedly different about Beth this morning. She seemed somewhat shy and a little withdrawn, and although Daryl hadn't acknowledged the blood that stained the sheets beneath them, he understood that she knew that he was very aware of it's presence.

The pair of them were awkwardly dancing around each other, still very much unfamiliar with one another despite the grand day that they had shared together yesterday.

"What would you like me to wear?" Beth asked him, her eyes unblinking as she stared straight at him and broke the silence between them.

If he was expecting her to say anything at all, it definitely wasn't for her to ask him that.

"Whatever you want," Daryl found himself saying, unsure of what else he was supposed to say to her.

Hell if he knew what it was that girls wore, what it was that his wife was supposed to wear. Daryl was hardly interested in fashion and never really understood all the talks about trends, but he supposed that he understood at least the basics. He had noticed that Beth always wore dresses that were pretty pastel colours and that looked as though they were made from the softest material on earth. Dresses that fitted her slender frame perfectly; that made her waist look impossibly small - because _damn_ , it really was - and that twirled around when she walked. Dresses that a man like Daryl had absolutely no idea what to do with, but that made women like Beth look like royalty.

Beth smiled shyly at his words, but she seemed to genuinely appreciate the freedom that he was giving to her. Daryl knew that her gratitude was misplaced. After all, he told her to wear whatever she wanted because he genuinely didn't give a damn whether she chose to wear anything or nothing at all.

However, despite the fact that Daryl felt slightly guilty for Beth seeming to think that he was giving her that freedom just because he wanted to and just because he could, he also did know that he would never be capable of being a controlling husband. So far, the only request that Daryl had made to his wife was for her to stay away from Shane Walsh, and that request was one that was rightly made, as far as Daryl was concerned. Beth was a smart girl and seemed to understand that when Daryl had warned her about Shane, he was doing so as to look out for her safety, not just doing it for the sake of it.

The truth was that when it came down to it, if there was a decision that needed to be made that involved Beth, Daryl would much rather she made it for herself instead of expecting him to have to do it.

Especially when it came to decisions about _clothes._

Beth was looking at him with soft eyes again; that shy smile still resting on her lips as her gaze flickered from his own eyes down to his lips and then back up to his eyes again suggestively. Daryl already knew what Beth was going to do before she even made the move, slowly bringing her hands up to cup his face as though she was expecting him to jump away from her - as though this was something that she was unsure of whether or not she should be doing. Daryl visibly swallowed whilst Beth pushed her upper body forward, her lips brushing against his ever so slightly.

If Daryl wasn't already certain that he was completely awake, he would have been adamant that he had been imagining the soft pressure of her kiss; day dreaming like a love-sick teenage boy who had just seen a glimpse of a woman for the first time.

Before Daryl even had the chance to register what was happening between them - before he even had the opportunity to return the kiss or even move closer towards her - Beth pulled away from him, her smile a little brighter now as she nibbled on her bottom lip.

Innocent or not; Daryl thought that this girl - no, this woman - no: his _wife_ \- surely had to know that she was teasing his something awful.

"Thank you," Beth said to him, the hint of a smile still there even as she spoke.

Daryl narrowed his eyes at her.

"For what?" he asked, his voice croaky and filled with genuine confusion.

Beth just shrugged her shoulders a little bit sheepishly at him as she tucked a strand of her wild blonde curls behind her ears.

"For everythin'," she answered, her voice thick with emotion.

Her answer confused Daryl even more. Although he could hardly be sure of what he looked like in that moment, Beth clearly found something about his expression funny as she giggled to herself at his expense.

"For letting me stay here," Beth explained. "For moving all of my things here... Putting them in place for me. And for being so kind to me over these last few days, too. I..." Beth cleared her throat awkwardly then, her light eyes suddenly downcast as she finished off what she was trying to say to him. "For being so kind to me last night, as well."

Beth's cheeks were burning a crimson red and Daryl was certain that his throat had completely dried up at her statement. In all truth, he had absolutely no idea what to say to her and so he chose not to say anything at all. Instead of using words, Daryl just nodded his head at Beth in acceptance of her thanks, even though he was almost certain that he didn't deserve them. After all, Daryl was convinced that everything that Beth was thanking him for was purely just him being a half-decent husband to the woman who now called herself his wife.

Beth didn't seem at all disappointed by Daryl's silence, and he wondered whether she even expected him to say anything to her or whether she had been expecting him to stay quiet.

Maybe she was a quick learner.

Maybe she was more understanding of him than he originally gave her credit for.

Maybe she was starting to actually _get to know him._

That thought was worrying yet exciting all at the same time.

"I won't take long," Beth promised as Daryl pushed himself up from the bed and made his way towards the wardrobe, grabbing at some of his clothes and quickly putting them on.

Having his back turned towards her was an uncomfortable sensation - one that he most definitely was not familiar with or even comfortable with yet - but regardless, he pushed those negative thoughts away; reminding himself that this woman was his wife and that she would have to see the scars there at some point or another, so he may as well get it over with.

Besides, Daryl was almost certain that Beth would have felt the scarred tissue there last night and that she would have probably seen at least the very beginning of them this morning whilst he was busy sleeping and curled up around her.

Daryl preoccupied himself by concentrating on his breathing and once he was finally dressed, he turned around to look at her, not sure what to expect from her expression.

Half of him had been expecting to see her looking all curious and intrigued whilst the other half of him expected her to look sad and pitiful.

What he definitely hadn't expected was for her to be stood there looking right at him with confident eyes as she dressed in one of his night shirts, the sleeves of it rolled up to her elbows and the hem of it falling down to her mid-thigh. Ignoring the possessive and primal urges that attempted to drown him at the sight of Beth wearing one of his shirts, Daryl cleared his throat and gave her an awkward little nod of his head.

"Wan' me to send someone up to help?" he asked.

It was in that moment that Daryl remembered the woman that worked for Hershel - Patricia, he was sure that she was called. From the moment that Daryl had arrived at the Greene farm, he had noticed the way that Patricia followed Beth around the house at all hours of the day as well as taking care of all the chores, and he had taken a guess that Patricia took care of Beth in all senses of the word - bathing her, dressing her, cooking and cleaning for her...

The list was probably endless.

He had never personally been the type of person who enjoyed that sort of assistance from anyone, including his employees. Daryl was more than happy bathing and grooming and dressing himself - he'd done it for almost half of his life before he came into money, when his pa certainly couldn't be fucked to bother making sure that he was clean and dressed half-presentable, so he was more than capable of continuing to do it now. But it didn't take a genius to work out that Beth was different to Daryl in so many ways - including the way that she had been brought up - and if having one of his employees assist her with those sorts of general tasks made her happy and more comfortable in his home - _their_ home - then he was happy to oblige.

"If that's alright," Beth said, her voice sounding almost nervous as she answered him.

Daryl just nodded at her.

"'Course it is," he answered, once again uncertain of what on earth he was supposed to say back to her when she made little comments like that.

Daryl was rewarded for his effort of actually saying something to her with a smile - only this time, the smile was bright and bold and wide, not shy and tentative and small.

Seeing her grinning at him like that made his stomach jump in a way that wasn't necessarily unpleasant, but Daryl rushed from the room as quickly as he could, not bothering to close the door behind him as he made his way down the stairs. When he reached the bottom, he grabbed the arm of the first woman that came into view.

"Sasha," he said, gripping the arm of one of his newer employees loosely.

The woman turned to face him, her expression placid as she waited for him to let her know what he wanted her to do.

"Miss Greene needs you upstairs," he told her. Sasha's dark eyes flickered down to look at the hand that was wrapped around her upper arm and as her gaze flickered back up to meet his, Daryl quickly released her as though the very feel of her skin had burned him. Sasha ignored the way that he pulled himself from her and chose to simply nod at Daryl in understanding, but the hint of a smirk that danced on her lips immediately caught Daryl's eye as the woman moved towards the stairs that would take her up to the bedroom.

"Miss Greene?" she said, one of her brows raised suggestively as she emphasised each syllable.

Daryl resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the woman.

"Mrs Dixon," he corrected himself after a moment.

Calling Beth _that_ seemed so strange yet so right all at the same time and Daryl wondered to himself whether he would ever really get used to the sound of it.

Sasha jutted out her chin at his words and looked very pleased with herself indeed as she made her way up the stairs of the house, not bothering to look back down at him as he stood at the bottom.

Daryl waited until he heard her knock at the open bedroom door, smiling to himself at the sound of Beth's soft voice calling for Sasha to come in.

When he heard the familiar sound of the door clicking to a shut, Daryl made his way into the kitchen of the house, suddenly very aware of just how hungry he was.

* * *

Beth looked radiant in yellow.

The dress that she was wearing matched the colour of her hair so perfectly and part of Daryl wished that he was a poet so that he could find the words to describe to her just how beautiful she really was. Daryl was quickly learning that he loved the way that she looked at him; especially when she was smiling up at him with a shy aura dancing around her, nibbling on her bottom lip and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as he looked her over.

"Where d'ya wanna start?" Daryl asked her, and Beth shrugged her shoulders before glancing around the sitting room as if to check whether they were really alone.

"Maybe the kitchen?" Beth responded, her tone raising in a way that suggested her answer was more of a question itself, and Daryl couldn't help but chuckle when he heard her stomach growl in agreement.

Beth giggled along with him, too; and Daryl immediately felt at ease as he guided her into the kitchen, asking for Randall to prepare some brunch for the lady of the house.

Beth blushed at the title that he gave her but Daryl pretended not to notice as he sipped on a pot of tea, deciding that he would walk Beth around the grounds of the house before he showed her any more of the rooms.

First, though, she had to eat.

* * *

"It's beautiful," Beth said as they walked into the barn, her eyes wide as she looked in at the chickens.

Daryl was pleased that Beth had been raised on a farm herself or she may not have taken to walking around the grounds and meeting all of the animals that lived on the farm so well. He warned her that the roosters that lived there could get a little nasty if they wanted to be, but she ignored his words and strolled right up to them, offering them some corn that rested in the middle of her palms.

The roosters accepted her presence with ease and Beth shot him a wide grin from over her shoulder as they ate from her hands. Daryl rested his shoulder against the doorway of the barn, the hint of a smile teasing his lips as he crossed his arms over his chest and watched her interact with the animals. His wife was everything opposite to what he had expected her to be, and he was quickly realising that he actually enjoyed her company more than he ever thought that he would.

Remembering the way that Beth talked about her own horse a few days before when the two of them had been walking across the fields of her daddy's farm - the farm that now belonged to Daryl, all because of this arrangement, this marriage - Daryl had a sneaking suspicion that she might enjoy seeing the horses that lived here for herself. His own horse was staying in the stables with the other mares, and he fought back a laugh as Beth gasped at the sound of them all neighing.

"Are they all yours?" she asked him, eyes wide as she strolled up and down the stalls of the stable.

Daryl nodded his head at her when he reached the horse that he relied upon to pull his carriage. All black and standing taller than any other horse he had ever seen, Daryl knew that Beth was enthralled with Achilles as he had been the first time that he had ever laid eyes upon him. Daryl reached out his palm to the horse and began to stroke the horse, smiling when Achilles began to smell at his hand, looking for a treat.

"Here," Beth said to the horse as she offered him a green apple, a dazzling smile on her face as the horse happily took it from her. Daryl moved his hand away so that Beth could stroke him, and after a few moments she turned to Daryl with dancing eyes. "What's his name?"

"Achilles," Daryl told her, and Beth whispered the horses name under her breath before she continued with her movements of stroking him once more.

"He's very handsome," Beth commented, and Daryl made a noise of agreement at the back of his throat before he walked over to the mare that stayed in the stall next to Achilles, inspecting the horse and her coat as Beth continued to spoil his own horse. "Do you think that... Well," Beth said, stumbling over her words and causing Daryl to turn his head to look at her, quickly distracted from his task of looking over the other horses. "Do you think that I could have a horse of my own? In America?"

Silence passed between them for a long few moments before Daryl shrugged his shoulders in a nonchalant manner. He supposed that it was only fair. After all, he knew that she was capable of riding, and he did have his own horse. Why shouldn't his wife have one, too?

"Don't see why not," he said to her, ignoring the way that his heart pounded against his chest at the sound of her squealing happily and the sight of her grinning widely.

If Beth's smiles were anything to go by, then today had definitely been a good day for them both.

They spent a little while longer in the stables looking over the horses before Daryl informed Beth that it was time for them to go, disappointment flooding inside of him when he saw that her face fell ever so slightly at his words. Daryl reminded her that dinner would be ready soon if the sun setting was anything for them to go by, and it seemed as though Beth's mood perked slightly at that, although Daryl really couldn't be certain.

Beth's face and general demeanor may have been easy enough to read, but Daryl was quickly learning that there was still a lot more to this woman than he had initially realised. She wasn't as simple as he immediately had guessed and he was already beginning to pick up on the different ways that she looked at him - the differences between her smiles and her laughs and what they meant.

It was in that very moment that it suddenly dawned upon Daryl that he had just as much to learn about his new wife as she had to learn about him.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading and please review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**I've written quite a lengthy AN at the end of this chapter. Considering this is Chapter Ten, I wanted to kind of set the ball rolling with this story and kick into where exactly this story was going. I've also received over seventy reviews for this story so far (honestly, you are all so amazing with your lovely feedback - I seriously can't thank you all enough) and a lot of those reviews tend to have questions in them. To save replying to each one with the same answer, I've decided to try my best at answering a lot of your questions and addressing some issues in the AN at the end.**

 **If long AN's aren't your thing, I'm warning you in advance that the one at the bottom is long, so then you don't start reading it and wonder when it's going to end!**

 **I also just wanted to warn you all that this chapter hints towards themes of domestic violence, just in case that's a trigger for anyone.**

 **Enjoy x**

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Little over one week had passed by before Margaret Walsh arrived on the doorstep of the Dixon home, banging loudly on the red door and shouting loudly for her sister, impatiently demanding that someone come to her assistance _immediately._

The arrival of Maggie had come in the middle of a wet and windy night. All was still and quiet in the house with even all of the workers resting upstairs in their beds. It had been Daryl who had awoken first at the sound of Maggie screeching outside and pounding against the front door, although Beth's eyelids began to flutter open when he rolled out of the bed with a heavy sigh. Before Beth even had time to process the loud noise that was coming from outside or to have chance to ask Daryl what was going on, he had left the room, leaving the door slightly ajar behind him.

Beth pushed herself upright, still sat down on the bed but resting on her elbows as she listened to the sound of the stairs creaking underneath Daryl's weight. Her eyes narrowed in confusion when she finally recognised that the loud banging was coming from someone outside of their home, although the noise suddenly ceased when she heard Daryl began to unlock it.

Unfortunately, all Beth managed to hear was muffled voices once the door had been pulled open, and it was just a few seconds later that the front door was closing to a shut. Beth's heart began to hammer loudly in her chest as she kicked the covers away from her lower body, moving to position herself over the edge. Her legs dangled over the corner as Beth used the tips of her toes to search the cold floor beneath her for her slippers, smiling slightly to herself in triumph as she found them and stepped into them. Once they were covering her feet, Beth stepped away from the bed and tiptoed towards the top of the stairs, hoping to make as little noise as she possibly could as she held on tight to the banister and craned her neck over the top of it, peeking over the top of the stairs.

Daryl was stood waiting at the bottom of the stairs, his hands resting on his hips as he looked expectantly up at her. Beth was at a loss over how on earth he knew that she would have come to see what was going on. She was teetering over the top of the stairs when she spotted him, her cheeks immediately starting to burn when she noticed that his deep blue eyes were locked straight on her.

Without much thought, Beth threw herself backwards and released her tight grip on the banister as though if she moved quick enough, then Daryl would forget that he even say her. She entertained herself with the idea that he may end up just thinking that imagined her there in the first place, but unfortunately for her, Beth had no such luck.

"Beth," Daryl called up to her in a knowing tone that made her want to squeeze her eyes shut.

Instead, Beth settled for letting out a heavy sigh before pushing herself from where she was leaning against the wall. Once again she tiptoed towards the top of the stairs, her movements slow and purposeful as this time she allowed herself to be completely visible to her husband.

Daryl remained rooted to the spot at the bottom of the stairs, the bags underneath his eyes indicating to Beth that he was still very much tired. The honest truth was that Beth was tired, too; but her curiosity had now gotten the better of her and she was suddenly much more interested in who their intruder was as opposed to going back to sleep.

"C'mere," Daryl said to her, motioning with his hand for her to come closer to where he was still stood at the bottom of the stairs.

Perhaps she wasn't in as much trouble with him for sneaking around as she initially thought that she would be.

Not wanting to test her husband's patience (she had quickly learned that that was definitely not his strong suit), Beth wasted no time in getting to the bottom of the stairs. She stopped dead in her tracks when she reached the last step, the height difference between the pair of them meaning that they were now standing on level with one another, their eyes meeting without trouble.

Daryl's hands dropped from his hips as he stared at her, searching her face for something that she couldn't put her finger on. Beth nibbled on her bottom lip as his gaze roamed across her features before he breathed in a deep inward breath and began to shake his head, his eyes squeezed tightly shut. Without saying another word to her, Daryl turned on his heel and began to walk into the sitting room, once again leaving the door slightly open behind him. Beth took the open door to the sitting room as an invitation to follow him, but she still made sure that she waited hesitantly on the last step for a long few seconds before she finally made her way into the room.

Beth's movements were slow and steady and she tugged at the hem of her white night dress, encouraging it to fall further down her legs as she pushed open the door. Daryl was busy lighting the candles around the room so that it wasn't as dark as Beth entered, and her baby blue eyes immediately snapped to the opposite side of the room where she found her sister to be sitting in one of the armchairs.

The first thing that Beth noticed about her sister was how distressed the older woman looked as she sat in the armchair, her shoulders slumped and her body trembling. Dry tears stained her cheeks and her hair was wild and unruly and wet, all knotted and matted and sticking up in every single possible direction. Maggie wasn't wearing a coat or a fleece; only a tattered red dress that was torn in several places and covered with mud and dirt from the waist down. The sleeves of the dress were slightly cut off and exposed around three quarters of Maggie's arms, and even in the dim light of the sitting room, it was impossible to miss the cuts and bruises that decorated her exposed flesh.

"Maggie," Beth breathed out, her voice croaky and thick with emotion as she looked down at where her sister was sitting.

It was a strange sight. When Beth had first entered the room, Maggie had looked to be very much far away - probably dancing around in her own mind, not really present with either of the Dixon's in the room. But as soon as Beth's voice filled the silence, her sister's head snapped up so that their eyes met from across the room, and it was almost immediately afterwards that Maggie's bottom lip began to shake.

The woman suddenly started to cry; not just whimpers, but loud, heavy sobs that racked her whole body. Her hands were unsteady as they came up to cover her face, the action only slightly muffling her loud sobs.

Beth remained frozen in place for a long moment, still surprised at finding that the person who had been rattling on the front door was her sister. The sudden visit was completely out of character and very unexpected, and having only just woken up a few minutes before, Beth's body wasn't as quick to react to the situation as it may have usually been.

From the corner of her eye, Beth saw that Daryl had frozen in place, too. He shot a nervous glance in Beth's direction and she imagined that her husband had seldom had to deal with weeping women before. Beth looked at him for a moment longer before a much louder sob escaped Maggie's lips; the sound breaking her out of her daze and she instinctively rushed over towards where her sister was sitting, quickly falling to her knees on the floor and placing her hands on Maggie's dirty dress.

"Hey, it's okay, Maggie," Beth breathed, patiently waiting for her sister to begin to calm herself down. "You're alright. Everything's fine. You're safe here."

As Beth continued to repeat similar reassuring phrases to her older sister, she turned her head over she shoulder so that she could also get a better look over at Daryl. Her husband had now finished with his task of lighting the candles around the room and now the sitting room was very much brighter as a result of his actions. Daryl stood in the doorway with an expression of uncertainty etched upon his face, but in that moment Beth found that all she could manage to do was offer him a soft smile in an attempt to reassure him in a similar way to the one in which she was trying to reassure her sister.

Several seconds passed between them before Daryl finally broke eye contact with his wife and quickly turned on his heel, departing with speed and closing the door to the sitting room quietly behind him as he left. Beth stared at the closed door as she listened to the sound of the stairs creaking, imagining that Daryl was suddenly making his way back up to bed.

Now that the two of them were married, this house that she was living in was just as much hers as it was his; but even so, Beth still wasn't entirely comfortable being left with the decision to invite her sister to spend the night. Beth supposed that if Daryl really minded it all that much then he would have voiced his opinion to her before he left for bed, but the thought still didn't sit right with her. As much as she was trying to behave more comfortably in this house, she still wasn't quite there yet, and she felt more than a little out of place by insisting that Maggie stay over.

Eventually, the sobs that were violently coursing through Maggie's body ceased and her breathing began to return to something that Beth could only consider to be normal. Beth allowed her sister to have a few more minutes in silence in order to compose herself before she decided to make a move, tentatively reaching her hands up to Maggie's face and moving her own arms away from where they hid her from Beth's gaze. The younger sibling slowly moved Maggie's arms down and further away from her face until they eventually rested in her lap.

The moment that Maggie looked down at Beth with her hazel eyes so sad and broken, it took every ounce of strength and composure that the blonde had inside of her not to cry.

"What on earth happened to you?" Beth asked, her voice low and quiet.

Maggie shook her head quickly at Beth's question which only caused the younger woman to frown.

"Maggie," Beth said, her tone still patient but beginning to boarder on pleading. "You need to tell me."

The sister's locked eyes for a long moment once more.

"Maggie, I need you to tell me _everything."_

* * *

"She asleep?"

Beth had just lay herself down - her back pressing against the mattress and the covers falling over her messily - when Daryl spoke suddenly, the sound of his voice catching her completely off guard and causing her to jump in fright. Beth had very much so been expecting Daryl to be sound asleep considering she had to have spent more than an hour talking with her sister downstairs, and mixed with the fact that she had always been a person who was easily frightened, her reaction was nothing short of normal for her.

Daryl usually chuckled whenever he caused her to respond in such a way to him, but tonight it seemed as though there really was no room for laughter between the pair of them.

Beth waited for her heart to stop beating so loudly against her chest before she cleared her throat and addressed the man beside her.

"Yes," Beth answered, turning her head towards him so that the pair of them were facing each other. No candles had been lit in their bedroom and Beth could only just make out her husband's features in the darkness. "I hope you don't mind, but I told her that she could stay."

Beth longed to see Daryl's expression considering that it seemed as though she learned much more about him through his body language than any other trait of his, but the tone of his voice alone indicated to her that he simply had to be frowning. Beth was pleased that she was at least starting to learn more and more about him.

"Course I don't," Daryl told her, and Beth closed her eyes and inhaled deeply.

It was difficult for Beth not to mentally scold herself in that moment, frustrated for even considering the fact that Daryl might be unhappy with the arrangement. Beth may not have known her husband for a very long period of time and she still may not know him particularly well, either; but if there was one thing and one thing only that Beth knew about Daryl Dixon, it was that he was a good man.

"Thank you," Beth whispered to him into the darkness, unable to resist the urge to shuffle closer towards him so that she could rest her head on his chest.

Over the course of the last week, Beth tended to wake up in the morning's and find that at some point during the night, either she had wrapped herself around Daryl or that he had wrapped himself around her. They didn't participate in sexual activities each evening, but even when they did they always fell asleep with some sort of distance in between them both. This would be the first time that either of them had initiated the physical contact whilst they were both awake and alert, and for once, Beth didn't mind at all that it was her who was making the first move - even if it was completely un-traditional.

Beth knew that her boldness and sudden closeness would have surprised her husband - perhaps even pleasantly, but it would have still surprised him nonetheless - so she gave him a few seconds to become accustomed to it before she snuggled further into his chest and then placed her arm loosely over his stomach.

Silence consumed them for what could have easily been forever. Beth didn't even realise that she had been holding her breath until Daryl moved beneath her, stretching his head up slightly so that he could place a gentle kiss against the top of her head. Beth breathed out a content sigh as Daryl then moved his arm around her shoulder and began to stroke up and down her forearm, grazing her skin with his fingernails. The sensation alone caused the hairs on the back of Beth's neck to stand alert and a familiar pressure began to build between her thighs, but the pair of them were far to exhausted to indulge in anything of _that_ nature tonight.

"Go t'sleep, Beth," Daryl murmured in her ear, and Beth shivered before positioning her head further under his chin, breathing out once more before her eyelids drooped to a close.

* * *

Beth woke up to find that at some point during the night, the couple had re-positioned themselves in their bed. Beth had rolled over onto her right side so that she was facing the bedroom door and Daryl had joined her, too; his chest pressed firmly against her back and his face buries in her hair. His strong arms were wrapped around her, his hold on her firm and somewhat possessive.

A lazy smile spread across her features at the comfort and safety she found in her husband's arms. Beth knew that it would do her no good to dwell on what could have been, but she was incredibly thankful to both her father and her God that circumstances had called for her to become engaged to Daryl and not to another man - one like Mister Walsh.

If she had to marry anyone, then Beth was glad that it was Daryl.

With that thought firmly in her mind, Beth pushed herself further against him, enjoying the intimate position that they found themselves in. Beth felt incredibly close to him in that moment and couldn't help but be pleased as she felt him harden against her lower back as a result of her movement.

"Are you awake?" Beth asked, her voice hushed and low.

She tilted her chin up slightly as she spoke and Daryl began to nuzzle the back of neck with his nose in response, humming out an _"mmm"_ in confirmation. Beth giggled at the sound as she rocked her hips slowly against him, heat building in between her thighs at the sound of him hissing from behind her. Daryl's body seemed to react on instinct, rocking straight back into her own and grinding himself against her.

Daryl's hands tightened their hold on her; one of them holding her firmly by her hip as the other moved further south, skimming across the line of her underwear. Beth's eyes fluttered close as Daryl's fingers moved further south, dipping into her underwear and brushing against her folds.

Beth whined as Daryl cursed against the back of her neck, his stubble tickling the sensitive flesh there and causing her to moan. She felt him smirk from behind her but when one of his fingers pressed against her clit, Beth found that she suddenly didn't care much at all. As far as she was concerned, he could smirk all he wanted so long as he continued to make her feel like _this._

"So wet," Daryl murmured against her neck, and Beth hummed in agreement as he continued to rub against her clit.

Beth's breathing hitched when he slid one of his fingers into her entrance, the area still tight and slightly sore and the sensation still somewhat foreign to her as he began to pump it in and out of her, the wetness that was pooling from her serving as good lubrication and allowing him to move with ease.

"That feel good?" Daryl asked as he placed kisses against the back of her neck, and Beth quickly nodded her head in agreement, worrying that if she didn't then he might stop in his movements.

Even with her confirmation, Daryl still withdrew his finger's from her, earning him a needy whine from Beth. He chuckled against her before he began to tug at the bottom of her underwear and Beth quickly took over from him, pulling the material down her thighs and kicking it off when it reached the bottom. Daryl wasted no time in placing his fingers on her once more, but as he did so he moved himself and her so that she was lay beneath him.

Daryl's eyes were almost black with lust as he gazed down at her and Beth could only imagine that hers were very much the same. Beth wriggled beneath him as his fingers brushed against her clit, causing her legs to jerk and her hips to buck upwards. Daryl watched her for what could have easily been hours as he worked at her with his hands before he finally pushed himself over her and pressed a slow yet passionate kiss to her lips.

"Beth," he breathed against her, his lips tickling hers and he spoke. "I want you to cum for me."

Crimson cheeks were something that Beth had grown accustomed to over her lifetime, but his words were far too much for her to handle and she wondered whether her whole face was hot to touch. Part of her expected Daryl to laugh at the sight of her or at least chuckle at the expense of her embarrassment, but he did neither of those things. Instead, he offered her one final glance before he quickly re-positioned himself, his whole body disappearing beneath the covers before Beth even had chance to register that he was moving.

It only took her a second or two to understand what he was doing as he placed his hands on the inside of either of her knees and encouraged her to spread her legs further for him. Embarrassment still rushed through her veins at the coarse words that Daryl had used just moments before, but all of those thoughts were quickly forgotten when she felt his hands spread her open impossibly further and before Beth could protest, his tongue was flicking against her clit.

It felt _good._ Probably more than good - no, definitely much more than good, but in that moment all of the synonym's for that word disappeared from Beth's mind and all she could think about was Daryl and his tongue and how good it felt as he lapped at her. Daryl had told Beth that he wanted her to cum for him - something that she had yet to do, having never even touched herself before and not knowing how to really allow herself to completely relax and respond to his touch - and even though she understood why he had positioned himself under the covers, Beth moved her legs and kicked them away from him, exposing him to her as he licked and sucked away at her clit.

Daryl met Beth's gaze from where he was positioned in between her thighs, never stopping in his rhythm as she squirmed beneath him. Everything inside of her was calling for her to look away from him, for Beth to throw her head back against the pillow and squeeze her eyes tightly shut and just enjoy in the foreign sensation of his tongue pleasuring her in a way that she never even knew was possible. Looking down at him as he worked his mouth against her - watching him as he licked and kissed and sucked as though he was dying of thirst and the juices that flowed from her was water to keep him alive - felt so _dirty,_ but it felt so right, too.

No matter how hard she tried, Beth couldn't tear her eyes away from him.

It wasn't long before a pressure began building in her stomach and her legs began to quiver more than they had before. She had felt this before with him over the last few days but the feeling was so strange and she was so uncertain about it that she always made sure to push his fingers away and stop him. Now Beth tried moving herself away from him as best she could in order to fight away the feeling, but Daryl wasn't having any of it. Instead, he pushed down harder on her hip, ensuring that she wasn't able to wiggle away from him.

Daryl took her clit into his mouth once more but nibbled against it this time, the pressure from his teeth light and gentle, but causing her to shriek out in pleasure. Beth's legs kicked upwards and her hips lurched up, grinding herself further down onto his mouth. Beth began to pant as Daryl continued his assault against her clit, his tongue swirling around her and his fingers entering her, moving in and out of her at a fast rhythm.

It all became far too much for her, Beth's toes curling around and her thighs clenching at his head as he brought her closer and closer to the edge. Beth threw her head back onto the soft pillow that lay beneath her and squealed as her hands found Daryl's hair, tugging gently in an attempt to encourage him in his motions. Beth wasn't sure what it was that she needed from him - couldn't put her finger on what it was that would push her over the edge - but she found it when Daryl hummed against her, the vibrations that it sparked causing her to shudder.

As she achieved her orgasm, Beth was certain that her world was over. Daryl didn't pull himself away from her until she came down from her high, taking his time to kiss his way back up to her mouth. The taste of herself on his lips only served to excite her, and Beth was partly taken aback at how wonderful it felt to kiss him then.

Daryl didn't waste much time in positioning himself at her entrance and the sensation of him filling her was much more intense after her own climax. Beth was still feeling very much light-headed as Daryl pounded into her, the sound of skin slapping against skin echoing around the room along with his grunts and her gasps. He didn't hold back as he spilled himself deep inside of her, his hands gripping tightly to her hips and his head buried in her neck as the whole of his upper body collapsed on her. Beth panted along with him, wiping the sweat from her brow as he rolled away from her.

A breathless laugh escaped her lips as Daryl groaned and only a few seconds passed by until he laughed, too, the sound causing her stomach to clench in a much different way than it had been minutes before. Beth felt incredibly at ease as she lay in bed next to her husband, the pair of them drenched in their sweat, the taste of her on his tongue and the evidence of him dripping down her thighs.

The grip of Daryl's arm around her waist loosened considerably, but he still made sure that he kept it draped across her as Beth lay beside him. Daryl opened one of his deep blue eyes to look at her and Beth couldn't resist from nibbling on her bottom lip in an attempt to bite back her wide smile. The pair of them stayed like that for a while before Beth finally breathed out a deep sigh, regretting that she really needed to leave.

"I should probably go and see Maggie," Beth said, her eyes falling downcast as she spoke.

Daryl moved backwards and removed his arm from around her waist so that he could rub one of his eyes with the back of his hand before he settled himself back down again, his hand returning to rest on her hip as though it was as natural as breathing.

Although it had only been two weeks since Beth and Daryl had met each other, Daryl was proving to be a good husband to her and she was decidedly happy to be with him. There was a still a lot that Beth felt as though she needed to learn; both about Daryl and about being a wife to him, but Beth was eager to please him in all senses of the word. Daryl hadn't left her alone in the house much at all over the course of the last week, although he had taken the time to inform her that the pair of them would soon be leaving for America, probably in the next few days.

When she had first heard the news, Beth had immediately been overwhelmed with nerves. Of course she had known that they would be leaving for America eventually - if anything, she had come to accept over the first few days of their marriage that their leaving would probably be a case of sooner rather than later. Still, that knowledge didn't settle the nervousness that bubbled inside of her stomach or ceased her mind from fretting about the how's and the why's and the if's.

Beth at least appreciated that Daryl had been somewhat understanding and sympathetic towards her, kindly informing her that he would make sure that they managed to fit in the time to visit her family before they left. Beth had been excited at the prospect of seeing her daddy and Patricia before she left - and of course, Maggie, too; although it didn't seem as though a trip to the Walsh household would be necessary anymore.

"Alrigh'," Daryl said to her, his voice raspy and still hoarse from sleep. "I'll get someone t'start cookin' up some breakfast, if you wan'."

Beth smiled at that and nudged her head closer to his so that the tip of her nose brushed against his. She nuzzled his affectionately for a gentle few moments before she pushed further forward and placed a long kiss to his lips.

"That would be wonderful," she said in a low voice and kissed him once more before she rolled out of bed, heading straight towards the dresser and reaching for her hair brush.

Just because Maggie was visiting her in her new home with her new husband didn't mean that she had to know about everything that they got up to together in their bedroom, and Beth was confident that messy hair, swollen lips and blushed cheeks were quite a giveaway to her sister about what had happened between Beth and Daryl that morning.

* * *

 **As stated at the beginning of this chapter, I have a lot of points to address here as several of you are leaving me questions that I want to answer. I do love replying to people individually via PM but I also have to take guest reviewers into consideration and I never really leave lengthy AN's on this story so I thought that one probably wouldn't hurt. Right?**

 **Anyway, to start with, I want to point out that following the theme of this chapter... I will not be making this story about Maggie and her situation with Shane and her relationship with Glenn. I have featured her in this story for the purpose of character development with Beth and so that she has something to compare her own marriage with Daryl to - after all, Beth was hardly keen on the idea of being married to a stranger at first (not that I can blame her) but I wanted there to be something to make her acknowledge that actually, Daryl is a good guy. She would have realised it on her own anyway, but I just wanted to speed that process up a little bit. Maggie will be there in the background and might be more involved in some chapters than she is in other's, but I think that these chapters are already long enough (they are, aren't they?!) without throwing more of her character into them too. I also have a lot planned for this story and where I want to go with it and don't think I have the time to put a lot of Maggie in there, too! I hope nobody is exceptionally disappointed at this as her character will still feature in the story, it's just that she's not necessarily a constant presence in it.**

 **Secondly, this story is not slow-burn in the sense that Beth and Daryl are married now and have slept together, too; but it in a way I suppose it _is_ slow-burn due to the fact that I am exploring the way that they are beginning to fall in love with one another. Love isn't something that happens overnight and in some of the other Bethyl fics that I've written, I've decided to skip ahead of time every now and again to speed things up, but I don't think that I'll be doing that very often in this story. Once again, I hope that nobody is disappointed with this, but I wanted to try and write something a little bit different to anything that I've written before, so that's why I wanted to indulge in writing chapters based on day-by-day events instead of week-by-week or even month-by-month ones. **

**As for the way that I'm writing Bethyl at the moment - I hope that when you read some of the interactions that I write between them that it's clear that things are still a little bit awkward for them both. They're still in a new relationship and things aren't exactly always smooth sailing - they both have a lot to learn about each other and the way that they can behave with one another, too. I hope that makes sense.**

 **I think it was TWDFan05 (sorry if I'm wrong!) who asked what it is that Beth will be doing with her days. Whilst Beth and Daryl are in Ireland, Daryl isn't working much - see it as he's kind of taken a holiday to come and get married and since he owns a lot of property in Ireland, there's not actually much for him to do as the actual business that he runs is back home in America. So the two of them are able to use that time to get to know each other in a way, but we can picture the he's had a few meetings here and there (particularly with finishing up the paperwork with Hershel), but just nothing too serious. Once they get back to America, I'll have a job for Beth to do that will fill her days a little bit more so it isn't as though she's sat around waiting just for him all day every day. But that will come in time!**

 **I finally just want to thank everyone so much for sticking with this story. I like updating my fics on a regular basis and it's been a little bit harder with this story just because I'm taking the time to research things more so that it's as accurate to the era as I can possibly make it without changing much. I still try and update every few days and please believe me when I say that if I get a minute to write this, I do! I'm also writing this story as a non-Bethyl story in my own time, but I try and not let that interfere with anything.**

 **Reading your reviews about this story is honestly so motivating; I love hearing from you all, and it definitely pushes me not only to write, but to try and do the best job of it, too. You are all so sweet and kind towards me and this story and I can't thank you enough for it. Also, if you're reading any of my other stories, I promise that I've not abandoned them for this one! Haha.**

 **Thank you so much for reading this chapter and this stupidly long AN! Please review and let me know what you think about this chapter and everything that I've addressed!**


	11. Chapter 11

**I know that I usually write each chapter from one character's POV, but for the purpose of not having to split this chapter up into two and therefore make it shorter and perhaps a little more confusing than this version is, I've decided to split it and alternate from Daryl and Beth's POV's. I think it's quite clear when those switches are but I apologise in advance if it's not.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

The sight of the house that Beth had called her home for the past twenty years stirred something within her as she peered out of the carriage window. It hadn't been all that long since she had been here in reality, but a lot had changed in her life in the last week and a half and Beth was beginning to feel like perhaps she didn't belong in this old farmhouse after all.

She knew that her father was waiting for the pair of them outside of the front door but she still took her time as she got out of the carriage. Daryl had jumped out first and held his hand out to her to assist her as she gracefully followed, holding tightly to his hand and gripping her skirts in her other. Beth offered her husband a soft smile as thanks for his help and moved her way around the side of the carriage whilst he busied himself with shutting the door and discussing when they were going to be leaving with Randall.

It wasn't the view of her father that made her smile, but the sight of Patricia as she stood slightly behind him; wearing a worn dress and tatty white hat with a warm smile and kind eyes, Beth was hit with the realisation of just how much she had missed the older woman.

Propriety saw that Beth greeted her father first and was slightly taken aback when he wrapped his arms around her middle and held her close, smiling into her shoulder. Beth's chin rested on Hershel's shoulder and her blue eyes dramatically widened in shock at his affectionate embrace, but the knowing look that Patricia was shooting her from behind her father caused Beth's own tense body to slump slightly as she relaxed into the hug. Her father kissed her on the head and chattered away to her about how much he had missed her and how a grand dinner had been prepared for their arrival, but he quickly shooed his youngest daughter towards the side as Daryl began to climb up the steps of the farmhouse.

It wasn't as though Beth minded being dismissed by her father. If anything, she was used to it nowadays, and she knew from the way in which he had greeted her that he clearly had been longing for her presence around the house. Beth took the opportunity to rush over to Patricia, beaming as she did so.

"I've missed you," Beth told her as she took the older woman's hands in her own, her light eyes dancing with joy and excitement at being reunited with the woman, even if it was only for a few hours.

Patricia gave Beth's hands a little squeeze.

"And we have all missed you, ma'am," Patricia said, her tone gentle and soft.

The words that she spoke almost made Beth want to cry.

"Come on," Patricia said, tugging slightly at Beth's hand. "Let's get you inside. Dinner will be ready soon."

* * *

"Maggie has been to visit us," Beth said as she walked around the bedroom that had once belonged to her.

It was exactly the way that she had left it, although she hadn't really expected her father to do much with it anyway. In this house, he had far more rooms than he knew what to do with. But at the same time, it was obvious that someone (probably Patricia) had been cleaning it still. There was no evidence of dust anywhere nor a musky smell. The bed had been made and the curtains had been drawn and the vanity table was still neatly organised with brushes and hair pins and powder for her face.

Patricia must have noticed Beth gazing longingly at the table and nudged her closer towards it, motioning for her to sit down. The younger woman's pupils went wide at that, suddenly feeling incredibly bashful for being caught in her daydreams, but Patricia's kind expression only encouraged her to sit down at the table.

The older woman wasted no time in picking up a hairbrush and running it through the sections of Beth's long wavy hair, taking her time as she did so. Neither of them were in a rush today, and although that had not mentioned it to one another, both of them knew that this could perhaps be the last time they saw each other - at least for a very long time, if not forever. The thought of never seeing Patricia again made Beth feel incredibly sad and so she pushed the thoughts away, locking them in a box at the back of her mind so not to upset herself even further.

"So," Patricia said. "What exactly is it that your sister wanted when she visited you, ma'am?"

Beth sighed, certain that Patricia already had her suspicions about why Maggie would visit her sister and her brother-in-law at their home.

"It's Mister Walsh," Beth began to explain. "He's hurting her. Only it's getting worse - much, much worse."

Patricia was quiet as Beth paused, thinking of how to describe everything that had happened over the past few days. Maggie had confided in her about her abusive husband and about how she longed for a world where she could run away. But Maggie didn't want to run away on her own; she had found love in another man, a _good_ man named Glenn who she said was honest and kind and loving towards her.

"Mister Walsh has forced himself upon my sister several times over the last week, and he has started using other... ornaments, not just his hands and his fists. Maggie... Well, Mister Walsh hurt her quite badly just before he left to go on a business trip a few days ago, and the night that he went, Maggie came to Dar- my home."

Beth stopped then to compose herself and to clear her throat, her downcast eyes filling with tears that were threatening to spill. Patricia was still yet to say a word as she continued to brush through Beth's silky hair, her movements calming the younger woman in a way. Beth drew in a deep and shaky breath before she continued.

"I hate to think of what will happen when I leave her," Beth admitted, her fingers fumbling with a part of her pastel blue dress. "Maggie needs me, but I have a duty to my husband. I have to leave with him - I can't stay here, even if I want to."

Patricia nodded her head at that and made a noise in her throat that sounded very much in agreement with what Beth was saying.

"But even so," Beth said, her voice becoming stronger as she fought away the tears to the point where they dissolved in her eyes. "I love my sister and I can't bear the thought of leaving her here with that monster of a man that she has to now call her husband. I have a plan; but I don't know whether or not it is foolish or reckless, and I'm asking you - as a _friend -_ to tell me the truth on what you think of it."

It was then that the women's eyes met in the mirror that sat on the vanity table and Patricia raised an eyebrow at Beth in the reflection, spurring the younger woman on.

"I want to tell Maggie to come to America with me and my husband. I want her to leave with us or perhaps even shortly after and she could follow us there with this... With this Glenn man."

The silence that filled the room at her words only encouraged Beth to push her case even more, desperate for the older woman to understand where she was coming from. Beth knew that she could trust Patricia not to tell her father of her plan, and even if it was putting her in an awkward situation; there was no way that Beth was going to voice this idea to Daryl - not until she had confirmation that her idea was reasonable, that it was sensible - even in a reckless way.

"I can't leave her here to be killed at the hands of her husband," Beth said, her voice quiet and meek. "I could never live with myself if... If something were to happen to her because of him. Because I left her with him."

Patricia's hands rested on either side of Beth's shoulders then, the two of them still locking eyes in the reflection of the mirror. Patricia let out a long sigh before she offered Beth a weak smile.

"If anything were to happen to your sister..." Patricia began, shaking her head. "It would not be your fault, ma'am. The only people to blame in these situations are the men who think that a good marriage consists of copious alcohol, sleeping with women of the night and beating their wives. Mister Walsh is the only person to blame for his actions."

Beth nodded her head.

"I know that," Beth said, her voice cracking as she spoke. "But... I could never... I would always feel guilty. I would always think that I could have done something - that I could have prevented it from happening."

"I understand, ma'am," Patricia said, continuing to brush through the last sections of Beth's hair. "I have seen you grow from a young girl into a young lady, and now you are a woman. A strong woman with a kind heart. And I've known you Greene's long enough to know that you're all as stubborn as each other; particularly when you want something."

Beth smiled at that, a little laugh escaping her lips.

"You and I both know that if you feel this strongly about it, then nothing I say - or nothing anyone says, for that matter, _including_ your husband - is going to stop you. You've asked me for some advice, and I've given it to you, ma'am. There's not much else I can do."

Patricia was silent again then as she placed the brush down upon the vanity table, running her fingers through Beth's hair tenderly before she took a step back. Beth looked at herself in the reflection of the mirror for a long few seconds before she turned her head over her shoulder, her gaze locking with Patricia's.

"Thank you," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Patricia smiled knowingly.

"Any time, ma'am."

* * *

After dinner, Daryl excused himself with Hershel and the pair of them left Beth in the dining room alone. Hershel led the younger man in the direction of his office, and Daryl vaguely remembered the last time that he was here as he passed through the corridor's of the Greene home, his eyes scanning the portrait's that decorated the walls.

Hershel entered the office first and Daryl shut the door to the room behind him with a _click,_ his eyes roaming around the room and taking it all in.

He had stepped into this room not even that long ago to sign a contract to confirm that he had purchased Hershel's land and his properties in return for paying him out of his debt and for marrying his youngest daughter. At the time, Daryl had been somewhat resentful for the second part of their deal and had been anything but excited to meet the youngest Greene girl.

But things were different now, even it hadn't even been that long at all.

Daryl knew that he didn't love Beth and couldn't be sure when he would, but he was certain that those feelings would come with time. Beth was all sunshine and bright smiles and happy laughter; golden hair and soft skin and breathy moans that made his heart burn in a delicious way, and Daryl found that he was actually enjoying life as a husband - as _Beth's_ husband.

And he knew that Beth was trying to be a good wife for him, too. She was always cleaning and organising their house and their things even though he had workers who were there to do the exact same thing and were paid for it, too. Daryl often reminded her of that but she just laughed at him in a gentle dismissal and insisted that she enjoyed behaving this way, indulging in the idea of domestic bliss, and who was he to put her down about that? He was learning from her and knew that she made him pretty damn happy, so he wanted to make her happy, too.

Daryl knew deep down that moving to America was not Beth's dream. Throughout all of her life, the young girl had probably thought to herself that she would marry a local man who lived not too far away from her daddy, a man who she had grown up with and had fallen in love with instead of being pushed into the whole thing by her father and a man who she had never even met before. Beth was very much a small-town girl and didn't seem like the type who dreamed of anything more than this simple life, and although Daryl knew that he shouldn't blame himself for it, all reason was pushed out of his mind and he couldn't help but feel responsible for her misery.

But the young man knew what he could do to make Beth happier about the idea of moving to America and he was damned sure that he was going to go through with it whether Hershel liked it or not. Granted, it would be much easier with the older man's blessing; but not everything could be guaranteed and there wasn't much that Hershel could do to stop Daryl from doing something that he wanted.

He may have been Beth's father, but that sure as hell didn't mean that he was Daryl's.

Hershel sat himself down at the chair behind the old wooden desk and Daryl's cool blue eyes roamed around the room, flickering over the books and the trinkets that littered the walls. He could feel Hershel's eyes burning into the back of his head, all ice and fire as they sizzled with curiosity; but Daryl didn't hurry himself as he strolled over towards the chair that sat parallel to where Beth's father was positioned. Daryl placed one of his hands on the back of the chair first before moving himself to sit down, eyes taking in all of the paperwork that was sprawled messily across the surface of the desk, but he didn't bother to try and attempt to read any of it.

"So," Hershel said, leaning back slightly in his chair. "What has she done now?"

Upon hearing those words come tumbling out of Hershel's mouth in an almost cruel tone, Daryl's gaze instantly rose from where his eyes had been looking down at the papers to meet with Hershel's own pair from across the desk. The man was curious, that much was apparent; and that demeanor reminded him somewhat of Beth. Still, the exhaustion in the older man's voice caused a flash of rage to crash through Daryl's body.

The only thing that managed to reign in his sudden anger was by reminding himself that Hershel wasn't like his daughter - not at all. Beth was innocent and pure and sweet and kind whilst Hershel was tainted, burned and scarred and tormented by demons that pushed him to drink and to gamble.

Admittedly, the older man looked better now - healthier, almost - after the talk that they had exchanged the eve before Daryl's wedding to Beth, but that still didn't mean that he had recovered from his addiction. Daryl knew all too well about the way in which alcohol could destroy a man - had seen it happen to his own daddy; hell, he'd seen it happen to his mama, too - and more than anything, he didn't want that for his wife.

Not for his Beth.

"Not here 'bout Beth," Daryl said, clearing his throat before he spoke.

Hershel raised a brow at that.

"No?" the older man said, clearly taken by surprise at that.

A quick learner was something that Daryl would definitely describe himself as, and he was observant, too. He could see the fire that sparked in his wife and it was clear as day that she was anything but an angel, even if she _did_ look like she was sent from heaven with her golden halo of hair and a radiant glow to her pale skin. Still, it caught Daryl off-guard to hear Hershel talk about her as though he had expected his youngest child to have done something that she shouldn't.

After all, Beth seemed as though she was the type of girl who played up to her father with big eyes and batted lashes and playful pouts. If Daryl had to take a wild guess at which one of Hershel's daughter's caused him the most trouble throughout his life - and gave him the most attitude, too - he would definitely put his money on Maggie.

"Nah," Daryl said as he shook his head from side to side. "S'about Maggie."

Hershel frowned at that.

"Margaret?" he repeated, sounding incredibly confused. "Why, what is it that _she's_ done?"

Daryl didn't say anything to that and simply chose to look at Hershel for a long period of time before the older man began to speak again.

"It's not Shane again, is it?" Hershel asked, and Daryl nodded his head once. Hershel let out a loud sigh and used one of his hands to cover up his eyes. "Goodness me. That girl will never learn to keep her mouth shut."

Daryl's eyes widened dramatically in surprise at that, genuinely taken aback at the older man's words. What in the _hell_ was Hershel talking about?

"Wha?" Daryl stuttered, his throat suddenly feeling very dry and his jaw tight as his knuckles turned white from where he was tightly holding onto the arms of his chair. Hershel seemed completely oblivious to his tense state and let his hand fall back down to his side.

"Maggie," Hershel explained, sounding incredibly bored. "I've been tellin' her for the longest time to stop running her mouth to her husband, but she won't listen to me. Shane's not got the patience to put up with her antics, and I don't always blame him, either."

A long silence buzzed around the room and Daryl tasted blood in his mouth from where he had bit down on his tongue so hard in an attempt to keep his own mouth shut. There was plenty that he wanted to say to Hershel in response to his previous comment about his oldest daughter - about Beth's own sister - but he chose not to, deciding that arguing with his father-in-law about this was the last thing that he needed to do.

If Hershel wanted to be a shitty dad to Maggie, then so be it. He could suit himself for all Daryl cared. After all, it wasn't as though Maggie was going to have to put up with it for much longer, anyway - not if Daryl had anything to do with it, at least.

"Me an' Beth leave for America in three days."

Hershel nodded at that. Daryl had already informed him about that.

"Maggie's comin' with us."

The silence that filled the room this time was much more tense than it had been before.

"Excuse me?"

"I said, Maggie's comin' with us."

There, it was out in the open now. Daryl had been honest with Hershel and told him the truth, and the man couldn't hold that against him, at least. If there was one thing that Daryl Dixon was not, it was a liar. He refused to sneak Maggie out of the country without even letting her father know where she would be; that she was safe and happy with her sister and that she would be starting a new life for herself.

"She ain't happy here, Hershel. An' I know that she's married to Shane, but I ain't sittin' back and lettin' this happen. Not on my watch. Maggie's not my responsibility an' I'm not the sorta guy to go stickin' my nose in other people's business. But Maggie is Beth's sister and this is upsettin' her, so I ain't gonna put up with it any longer."

The only indication that Hershel was angry (apart from the bitterness that was more than evident in his tone) was the way in which the older man's hands were trembling as they were balled into fists.

"Maggie is my daughter," the older man practically spat at him. "Beth is my daughter, an' I -"

"Beth is my _wife,"_ Daryl retorted, interrupting him from going any further. "An' I already told you, I ain't havin' her be upset about this 'cause o' some guy you married your oldest off to."

Hershel didn't say anything back to that and chose simply to narrow his eyes at the younger man. Daryl pushed his chair backwards and stood up abruptly, never breaking eye contact with Hershel as he did so.

"Your my father-in-law, an' for that, I gotta give you my respect. But the only person I care about is Beth. If this is what she wants, then I'm gonna make sure that it happens, an' there's not much you can do t'stop me."

Daryl let out a sigh before he turned around and made his way over to the closed door of Hershel's office.

Before he left the room, Daryl turned his head over his shoulder and gave the older man a final stare.

"Your daughter's are safe with me."

With that, Daryl exited from the office, slamming the door to a close behind him. He shut his eyes tightly shut and exhaled a shaky breath, hoping that he hadn't just inadvertently caused a war by doing all of this.

Just as he opened up his cool blue eyes that were still widened with anger, a set of pale arms wrapped themselves around his neck and the strong scent of Beth overcame him. It took Daryl a few seconds of being frozen on the spot in genuine surprise before he made a move to return her embrace, sighing softly into her hair as she pressed soft kisses across the column of his throat.

Eventually, Beth loosened her hold on Daryl and stepped backwards slightly so that she could get a view of his face. Her hands instantly reached up to cup his jaw and she smoothed her thumbs across his face, smiling softly up at him with tears prickling in her eyes.

"Thank you," she said, her voice crackling even though she was speaking in barely a whisper. Beth's head was shaking side to side as she spoke and her bottom lip trembled as a stray tear fell down her cheek. "Thank you so much, Daryl. You don't know how much this will mean to Maggie. How much it means to _me."_

In that moment, Daryl was completely overcome with emotion. It weighed down on him thick and heavy and he felt vulnerable under the scrutiny of Beth's gaze.

The sound of Hershel shuffling around in the office behind them caused Daryl to let out a frustrated sigh and worry etched itself across Beth's features. He shook his head at her in a way that he hoped was reassuring before he leaned close and kissed the tip of her nose affectionately. Daryl had never known much about love; about being tender and affectionate and sweet with another person, but with Beth, it just came to him so _easily._

"C'mon," he mumbled to her, his voice low. "Let's get out of here."

Beth giggled at that, the sound causing his own lips to turn upwards in a hint of a smile as he took her small hand in his, allowing her to lead the way as they rushed through the hallways of Beth's childhood home. Daryl wasn't quite sure what came over him as he kicked open the front door of the large house, but he was certain that he was high on the sound of her laughter as he flung open the door to the carriage and helped her into it first, informing Randall that they were to leave immediately. The young man quickly hopped onto the carriage and stuttered out a _"yes, sir"_ before Daryl shut the door and slid in close next to Beth, unable to fight the urge to grin at her as she looked up at him.

As the pair of them drove away from the farm house, it was now Daryl's turn to cup Beth's jaw as he leaned in and pressed a firm kiss to her lips, feeling her smile as he did so. His heart was hammering in his chest as they rode away from the farmhouse and in all honesty, Daryl would be happy if he never had to set foot in the property again; regardless of whether it belonged to him or not.

There had been a time when all that he had wanted was money and land. But now, that time was over. The only thing that Daryl Dixon wanted more than anything in this world was to make his wife happy.

* * *

 **I want to address the fact that I have made Hershel quite un-likeable in this story. I know the he was portrayed as a good father on the show, but I think that there's good and bad in everyone, and on the show we got a glimpse into the way alcohol caused him to behave when he just picked up and disappeared for that brief period of time. In this story, there's nobody really there to give Hershel a kick up the arse because it's not anybody's place to do that considering that he is the man of the house; and for that reason, Hershel is kind of left to his own devices to drink himself stupid. As with any addiction, alcoholics can have a personality change and I think I've made it clear in previous chapters that Hershel was a good father to his daughter's until his wife died. He's still struggling with grief.**

 **I've also hinted in this chapter that Daryl had a discussion with Hershel about his drinking before the wedding (yes, there will be a flashback!) which a few of you actually guessed at in your reviews a few chapter's ago, but that doesn't necessarily mean that Hershel is still sober now. So far in this story, he is still very much off the rails as he grieves with the death of his wife and the loss of his daughter's in a way (even if he has brought it upon himself), and it won't be for a while that Hershel actually begins to fix his relationship with his daughter's. I hope that makes sense and you don't all necessarily think that I've written Hershel as an evil bad guy, because he's not supposed to be. The lines between good and bad are very blurred and in this story, Hershel is struggling with that.**

 **A few of you have also expressed an interest as to whether or not Maggie will be a barrier to Beth and Daryl's marriage, and I hope that the last scene of this chapter gives you all an insight into the way that Maggie's predicament - as unfortunate as it is - will actually bring Beth and Daryl closer together as opposed to driving them apart. In this chapter, I've tried to get it across that the two of them are beginning to share the same sorts of ideas with things (I hope it's clear that Beth didn't actually say anything to Daryl about moving Maggie with them, it was something that they were both thinking about but actually didn't mention it to the other as of yet) and Beth only knew what was being said because she was eavesdropping.**

 **I think that Daryl is a genuinely good guy (I mean, I'm sure you all do too!) who takes care of his own, and now that he considers Beth to be his family he wants to make sure that she is happy - which will mean taking Maggie with them to America. In my mind, Daryl looking out for Beth - and inadvertently, Maggie, too - in this way is an important factor in her falling in love with him.**

 **Anyway, enough with my rambling - I'm sure all of the points that I've mentioned most of you have picked up on already and know for yourselves, but I just wanted things to be clear in case any of you still had any questions or were a little bit confused.**

 **Thanks so much for reading and please review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**I apologise in advance if this chapter seems a little jumpy, but I've typed it all up in the middle of the night here and stayed up waaaay past my bedtime to edit it and put it on here for you. It's pretty long, too, and I WAS going to split it in half, but I thought I would treat you all with a bit of a longer chapter than usual as a big thank you for being so kind and supportive to me with this story.**

 **Balancing three fics is more difficult than I first realised but you all make it so much easier with your motivating reviews. I seriously love hearing from you all so much, it always puts a smile on my face, especially when you all start guessing about what's going to happen and where I'm taking the plot with this.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

It had been a long day.

The journey home to America was much easier to organise when it was just Daryl who was leaving; but now that he had a wife to take into account, things seemed to be much more complicated and the general process seemed to be much more drawn out. Beth seemed to have more belongings than he initially realised and he wondered how on earth it was even possible for a young woman to own so many items of clothing. Most of the pieces she owned were dresses that she insisted she just _had_ to take with them despite Daryl informing her that she could happily purchase more in America, and those dresses alone seemed to take up more space than all of Daryl's clothes combined. Daryl really didn't care much for fashion - never had, probably never would - and he wasn't very sure what the appeal of the flimsy material was for his wife, but he respected it all the same.

If dresses made Beth happy, then it made him happy, too; and Daryl reasoned with himself that they had plenty of room for her things back home in Georgia.

 _Home._

The thought of home tugged at his heart. Beth had grown accustomed to calling this house their home over the past two weeks that they had been staying there, and in all fairness, Daryl never made much of an attempt to correct her on that. But this house was not his home; never would be, never _could_ be. It wasn't Beth's home, either; although Daryl had a feeling that the only other place that she had called home in her life had no business being her home any more, either. Daryl could only hope that his wife would enjoy the life that he would provide for her in Georgia, and reasoned with himself that maybe having her sister living not too far away from her would make her feel more comfortable in the strange country, more at ease.

It wouldn't be fair to attempt to speak for his wife or put words into her mouth, so Daryl didn't bother to when it came to the question of whether or not Beth would enjoy living in the south of his native country. Lots of things were different about life there, and he had been trying his best to explain those things to her in an attempt to ease her into the idea of what her life would soon be like. His wife seemed to understand that the weather was more extreme; winter's much colder and summer's much warmer, both extreme's of the opposite season's often becoming unbearable. To her credit, Beth seemed to be strong and adaptable and Daryl was confident that she would adjust to life in his home in Georgia with ease and grace.

Daryl tried to be as quiet as he could as he pushed open the door to their bedroom, but the hinges of the old door shouted out to him in protest as he nudged it further ajar. Daryl winced at the sound, cursing under his breath as he slipped inside of the room and pushed the door back to a close. The click of the handle seemed to echo loudly around the room and Daryl noticed that his wife was beginning to stir in their bed, her peaceful slumber broken by the noisiness of his entrance.

It was with a heavy sigh that Daryl sat himself down onto the bed, his back facing towards where Beth was sprawled out face-down in the middle of the mattress, mumbling something incoherent as she left her sleepy state and became more alert. The bed dipped with his weight as he tugged off his boots and then began to kick off his pants, stifling a groan at the chance to finally step out of his clothes once they landed in a pile at his feet. Daryl told himself that he would most definitely have to bathe either in the morning or the afternoon at the latest considering the fact that it was their last day in the country, but for now, the soft sheets of the bed that he shared with his wife were calling him to come and rest his head on the pillows.

Well, the sheets were calling him; but Beth was calling him, too.

"Daryl?" she whispered into the darkness, his name sounding more like a question on her lips.

Beth's voice was groggy and tired and he could hear her shift in the bed behind him, most likely pushing herself up on her elbows. Daryl only offered his wife a grunt in response as he began to unbutton his shirt, not turning to face her as he shrugged out of his last item of clothing.

"Come here."

Well, who was he to refuse Beth of anything?

He didn't. Instead, Daryl obeyed her gentle command, shifting himself so that he was lay underneath the covers beside her. It seemed like an instinctive reaction for Beth to scoot up slightly in attempt to make some more room for him, but Daryl was tired and needier than usually, desperate to feel her skin against his. The day had been long and stressful; filled with paperwork and discussions about how things were going to carry on in this house after the Dixon's left for America. In the end, it had been settled that the house and the staff who lived here would be rented out to an older man who was quite new to town, and Daryl had spent the majority of his day meeting with him and discussing the ways in which things would be organised for him.

Unfortunately, it seemed like the man who was going to be living in the house was more than just slightly racist. Daryl had tried to warn Sasha about it as tactfully as he could possibly muster, but subtly had never been Daryl Dixon's strong point. Still, he was positive that the young woman had got the message and had taken it on the chin, too; and Daryl supposed that Sasha was as well-prepared for what was soon to come as she possibly could be.

It was a shame that this was her life, but Daryl was no hero and he needed someone to rent the house in order to keep paying Sasha her wages. She could have easily been forced into a working life - perhaps not with him, but with someone else - but as with all of his other employees, Daryl offered her a room to board in and food to fill her stomach and a little amount of money each week to get her by.

If Sasha didn't like it here, then she was more than welcome to leave.

Daryl reached out into the darkness and clutched onto Beth's wrist, the movement catching his wife by surprise - he could tell by the way in which she stiffened underneath his grip. In a matter of seconds she was relaxing into his touch, her pulse slowing down beneath his fingertips and she seemed to understand what he was silently asking of her despite the fact that she could hardly see his face in the black of the room. Beth moved herself closer to him so that the tips of their noses were just touching and their legs tangled around each other's beneath the sheets. Daryl slipped his hand from her wrist and was about to pull it back down to his side when Beth stopped him in his tracks, and Daryl could just about see the outline of her faint smile as she intertwined their fingers.

"Goodnight," Beth whispered to him.

Daryl initially responded by pulling their joined hands up to his mouth and pressing a kiss to the back of her hand before leaning closer towards her and pressing a chaste kiss to her soft lips. He would happily kiss her lips until he was starved of all oxygen, but he was far too exhausted to engage in any such activities tonight.

"G'dnight, Beth," Daryl mumbled back to her.

It didn't take much longer after that for Daryl's eyes to droop shut without warning and for him to begin to snore as he entered a state of sleep that was filled with dreams of Beth and her golden hair running free in the woods back home.

* * *

Rising with the sun was something that Daryl had been accustomed to throughout his entire life - at least since very early childhood - so it surprised him when he first woke up to find that the sun was positioned quite high in the sky. It took him a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the bright light that filled the bedroom and even longer for him to fully wake up out of his sleepy daze, and Daryl cursed under his breath at the realisation that it had to be at least noon.

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes with the back of his hands and mumbling under his breath about how much he had to do that day, it quickly dawned upon him that there was something else that wasn't quite right.

Of course: his wife was no longer in bed with him.

Daryl's protective instinct took over and without bothering to pay much attention to his surroundings (which was very much unlike him), he found himself peering over the side of the bed in an attempt to locate where he had positioned his shoes in the darkness the night before. He was contemplating all the places that Beth might be and was reasoning with himself that she probably wouldn't have strayed too far without him as he reached over the bed to grab his boots when he heard the soft sound of someone humming not so far away from him.

How he didn't realise that the door that led from their bedroom into the washroom had been opened, he couldn't quite say, but Daryl was quickly dropping his boots back onto the floor of the room as his head snapped over in the direction of the washroom. Beth's voice was soft and sweet - probably the nicest thing that he'd ever heard - and he couldn't help but be drawn to it. Daryl craned his neck as he pushed his body forward slightly so that he could get a better glimpse into the room only to see that Beth had settled herself nicely into the large white tub that was positioned in the center of the room.

She was a wonderful sight to see point blank, but especially so when Daryl had only just woken up and was still in a somewhat sleepy, dreamy state. A lazy smile was sprawled across her face as she looked right at him; her long blonde tresses falling over the back of the tub in long waves, the bubbles that filled the water hiding most of her slender frame from his hungry and roaming eyes.

"Good afternoon, Mister Dixon," Beth called out to him in a teasing tone, the lazy smile that had graced her features turning into a cocky smirk.

In some ways, it still baffled him how a woman who was a stranger to him just a mere two weeks ago could behave so confidently and so relaxed around him. It was all so natural and domestic and yet frightening at the same time and was most definitely not something that Daryl was used to.

"Why didn't you wake me?" Daryl asked with a yawn before throwing the covers from his body.

He stood up and stretched, groaning happily to himself as he did so before he made his way towards the washroom, watching as Beth drank all of him in the whole way.

She shrugged her shoulders at him nonchalantly in response to his question, twirling a strand of her hair in her fingers.

"Well, at first, I thought you might have woken up when you heard me call for Sasha to draw me a bath..." Beth began to explain, her voice trailing off as she giggled. " _But_... you were still snoring when she left about twenty minutes or so ago."

Daryl rolled his eyes at his wife's tone and positioned himself silently beside her, resting on his knees next to the bathtub, his face next to hers. His fingers instinctively inched towards her curly hair and she made a sound that almost reminded him of a kitten purring as he began to massage her scalp and run his fingers through the silky golden strands, enjoying how smooth it felt beneath his fingertips.

The moments that they shared were becoming more intimate and tender, more purposeful and meaningful. Daryl didn't give it much thought as he reached out for the bar of soap that rested on the side of the tub and he pried it from where it was slightly stuck in position. Without giving Beth any warning, he dipped the bar of soap into the water so that it would run across her skin with ease and then he began to rub it across her shoulders and her collarbones, willing himself not to miss any inch of her body as he cleaned her.

His actions encouraged Beth to sit up slightly in the water, and in doing so she exposed more of her pale flesh to him. Daryl tried his hardest to ignore the signs of his growing arousal at the sight of his wife's breasts as he continued to run the soap over body, focusing on his task of cleaning her thoroughly in preparation for their journey.

"I didn't see you much yesterday," Beth said after a short while, her voice quiet and low.

Daryl nodded his head slightly at that.

"Had a long day," he mumbled, hoping his excuse didn't sound all too pathetic to her ears. After all, it was the truth.

His deep blue eyes flickered up to meet with hers and he swallowed at the sight of her smile, all soft and understanding as she gazed at him in a way that he wasn't sure he was familiar with. The look that she was offering him now somewhat unnerved him, and Daryl quickly shot his eyes back down to where he was rubbing the soap across her smooth skin.

"So is everything prepared for us now?" Beth asked him as his hand disappeared beneath the bubbles of the water, the soap running across her stomach and her lower back as he tried to commit every curve to his memory.

Daryl nodded at his wife in confirmation.

"And when is it that we leave?" she continued, her breathing becoming slightly laboured when Daryl dropped the soap from his hand back into the water with a _plop_ and moved to trail the lines of her hips with his fingertips.

"At dawn," Daryl drawled, his voice rough and low as his hand edged lower and lower until he was greeted with her core. Beth spread her legs wider for him to allow him to have easier access to her center and Daryl groaned inwardly when she shuddered beneath his fingers, her head tilting back to rest against the tub, her eyes fluttering to a close as his thumb brushed against her clit.

Even under the soapy warm water of her bath, it was all too apparent to Daryl that his wife was wet.

* * *

Daryl knew that Beth was sad to be leaving Ireland behind her.

The pair of them may not have known each other for an excessively long period of time, but spending almost fourteen days with one another without much else to do other than bond with each other and get to know more about the other made it difficult not to pick up on certain traits about the other person. The two of them had become much closer than he ever anticipated that they would over the course of the last two weeks, and Daryl had to wonder how on earth things would be between them after a few more weeks, or months, or years.

If this was anything to go by, then Daryl Dixon was confident that he had a lot to look forward to when it came to life with Beth.

Daryl was a generally observant man, and it was more than evident to him that his wife was not feeling up to her best as the two of them set out towards the coast of Ireland in the early hours of the morning.

Beth was't tired at all, either. Although Daryl supposed that she had slept quite poorly the night before, waking him up as she tossed and turned and groaned in frustration. There was a time and place for everything, though; and Daryl supposed that as much as he wished that he was good with words _sometimes_ (particularly times like these), he wasn't. And even if he was, Daryl knew that there would be no point in trying to encourage Beth to be more positive about their move to Georgia - not at the moment, anyway.

He may not have been a very patient man by nature, but Beth was teaching him all of those tricks. And besides, no matter what some people thought of him, Daryl did have a heart. He tried his best to give Beth the space that she needed, even if that was difficult when they were riding together in his carriage side by side, and he continually reminded himself that this woman had never left her little town before, never mind the country, and that it was only fair to allow the space that she needed to process something as huge as this.

It took Beth around an hour or two of riding in the carriage in a slightly comfortable yet slightly awkward silence before she eventually chose to open her mouth and speak up to Daryl in an attempt to start a conversation. Daryl wondered whether or not the surprise he felt at hearing the sound of her voice filling the carriage was evident in either his facial expression or his tone; although if it was, Beth didn't give him any indication that she noticed.

"What's the ocean like?"

Of all of the questions that he had been expecting her to ask, that one would have never even featured in his mind, and Daryl struggled to find the words to answer her question. It was still strange for him to think of someone who had never travelled too far from their home, but he supposed he did live in a country that was built on immigrants and he also owned property all over the globe. Beth may have been well educated, but she was definitely not well travelled.

"Can't really describe it," Daryl told her honestly. "It's... It's really somethin' else."

Beth smiled at that as she gazed out of the window, giving him time to think about his next words as he tried to paint a picture of the sea for her in her mind. Daryl imagined that Beth had seen paintings and portraits of the sea so she didn't need a basic explanation of it's depth and it's colour. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he tried his best to set the scene for her.

"S'not always smooth," he explained.

Daryl would hardly describe himself as a poet, but he tried. For Beth, he would always try.

"It's... unpredictable. Some o' the worst storms I've ever seen have been at sea, an' I... Well. It's beautiful, though, you'll see. All wild an' anythin' but borin'. Even when the water's are calm an' still. It's just... s'just peaceful an' calmin'."

Beth turned towards him then, her light eyes searching his.

"So like you, then," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Daryl wanted to laugh; to snigger at his wife's remark and shake his head and wave his hand at her dismissively.

But he didn't.

Instead, Daryl allowed his gaze to boar directly into hers.

Their eyes didn't part ways for quite some time, Daryl's breathing coming out slightly ragged as he looked at his wife with a strong and intense stare.

Maybe he was caught up in the moment.

Maybe he was thrown around with emotions, particularly due to the excitement that he felt to finally return _home;_ to be with his wife and even her sister and the man that she loved, too.

Maybe he was being stupid.

Maybe he was still exhausted from the past few days of dealing with his drunken father-in-law and closing up deals and worrying about the racist man who was going to be paying him to live in one of his properties where one of his employee's was a black woman.

Or maybe it was nothing at all. Nothing but the simplicity of the moment that they shared just then.

Maybe it was the tenderness of Beth's voice, maybe it was the softness of her eyes and the kindness of her smile.

Maybe it was just _Beth_ and everything that was her that made Daryl realise that he was falling in love with her.

* * *

The trip to the harbour where their boat would be leaving from the following morning took little over five and a half hours, including breaks so that the horses could drink water and the driver's could relieve themselves. Daryl was pleasantly cheerful about the timing, even if they were slightly behind schedule. Sometimes, Daryl forgot just how large the country that he called home was in comparison to other;s, and even though the journey that lay ahead of them was still going to be equally long and tiring, at least now it had finally begun.

Daryl hoped that his wife was just as pleased about it as he was.

"Are we spending the night here?" Beth asked as she craned her neck so that she could peer out of the carriage window.

Daryl nodded his head at her and quickly realised that she hadn't been able to see him as she was still gazing out of the window. His girl was mesmerised by the ocean, that much was clear to him already.

"Mmhmm," he hummed, scratching his chin whilst looking out of the window on his side of the carriage which faced towards the land.

A comfortable silence filled the air between them, and after a while of looking out onto the empty land, Daryl decided to lean back in his seat and rested his head against the palm of his hand. His deep blue eyes began to droop slightly whilst he thought about sneaking in a brief nap as Randall brought their carriage closer and closer towards the cabin that he and Beth would board in for the night.

Wealthy or not, Daryl couldn't purchase room's that weren't available, and unfortunately for Maggie and Glenn, that meant that they would be spending their night resting in the carriage that they had arrived in. Daryl would have offered for his sister-in-law and her lover to stay in his own carriage considering it was much larger and probably more comfortable than the run-down one that they had borrowed from a 'friend of the family', but Randall was heading on the long trail back home almost immediately after he had dropped Daryl and Beth off at their destination, and Daryl could hardly expect him to spend a night on the coast with nowhere to stay. There was only one room available at the cabin that they would be staying in, but Beth hadn't seemed all too disappointed with the news that her sister would not be joining them.

 _"Maggie's just grateful that you've agreed to allow her to accompany us in the first place,"_ Beth told him when he had mentioned the predicament to her, and Daryl had simply nodded his head at that and accepted it to be true. Still, he couldn't shake the guilty feeling about it.

As he helplessly began to doze off into a dreamless sleep, Daryl felt Beth relax backwards into her seat and take his head in one of her hands, gently cupping his freshly-shaven cheek and guiding him over to rest on her shoulder. Daryl didn't bother to protest at all to her movements (not that he wanted to, anyway) and he revelled in the sound of Beth sighing happily when he nuzzled against her. Beth rested her cheek against the top of his head and Daryl inadvertently let out a small sigh of his own when she began to sing to him, her voice lulling him further into sleep.

 _"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see."_

The sound of his wife's sweet voice filling the carriage caused Daryl to suddenly feel much warmer and calmer than he had done on the whole journey to the coast. Daryl pushed away the negative questions that buzzed around his unconscious - questions regarding whether anyone had ever taken the time to sing him a lullaby in his whole life, even when he was a small baby - and decided that it didn't matter anymore. Nothing ever did matter anymore when it came to Beth. She was here now, and his wife was both his present and his future, and that knowledge alone helped Daryl keep the horrible memories of his troubled past at bay.

 _"...How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed."_

Those words were all that it took for Daryl to finally drift off into an unconscious state where his mind could completely relax and shut off, even if just for a little while. The rhythm of the carriage and the pillow of her shoulder combined with the soft sound of Beth's voice spurred him on his way, and Daryl was confident that sneaking in a short nap here would hardly hinder his sleep tonight.

Beth continued to sing to him long after he had fallen asleep, and although he did not dream of images, he could still hear her voice soothing him as he allowed his body to rest.

.

.

.

"Daryl."

Beth's voice was soft and low, practically a whisper in his ear, and her delicate hand rested on the side of his face as she cooed her husband awake. Daryl's eyes fluttered open groggily and he couldn't help but groan in protest at the way the bright light filled the cabin and hurt his tired eyes.

"Mister Dixon," Beth chided, unable to help but giggle. "You have to get up. We've arrived."

His wife nudged him with her shoulder, causing him to push himself upwards from her so that he was sitting upright once again. His neck cracked almost immediately even though he made absolutely no attempt for it to, and he groaned much louder and with pleasure at the sensation.

"Hush!" Beth insisted, still giggling sightly as she playfully scolded him. "Randall is going to wonder what on earth we're gettin' up to with you making all sorts of noises like that!"

Daryl couldn't resist the urge to smirk at her words and quickly wrapped an arm around her shoulders, surprising her by pulling her in close and pressing a wet kiss to her lips. Beth squealed as he drew her in and began to squirm beneath him a few seconds into the kiss, a grin on her face when she managed to wriggle free from his grasp.

"Well," she said, wiping her lips that had been dampened from his sloppy kiss with the back of her hand. "You're certainly in a good mood, Mister Dixon."

When Randall knocked on the carriage door instead of opening it up immediately the way he almost always did, Beth shot her husband with a knowing look. Daryl chuckled to himself as he watched her cheeks burn pink when she cleared her throat and pushed open the carriage door, taking Randall's hand as he assisted her out of the carriage. Daryl followed closely behind her and took in a deep breath of the fresh and salty sea air, unable to hold back a small smile when a gust of wind rushed over them.

Seconds later, Maggie appeared at the door of her own carriage and called for Beth to come over. Beth obliged immediately, bidding goodbye to Randall before she gathered up her skirts and hurried over towards her sister's carriage. Whilst Beth busies herself with Maggie, Daryl turned his attention towards his employee and gave him a clap on the back of his shoulder, shaking it lightly and telling the young man that he was free to leave for home whenever he pleased.

"It's been a pleasure working for you, sir," Randall said, and Daryl just nodded his head before he made his way over towards the cabin that he would be staying in with Beth for the night.

It was hardly anything fancy, but it was _something,_ and something was much better than nothing. It was only one story high and hardly very long at all, made of wood with an old door that clicked loudly when he knocked on it. Daryl fought back a smile when it squeaked open with a shout of protest and revealed to him one of his oldest friend's.

"Daryl!" Dale grinned, reaching out a hand and shaking Daryl's firmly.

It had only been a few weeks since the two men had last seen each other, but a lot had changed in that short space of time, too. Dale had a few years on Daryl, but he was a good man and a loyal friend, too. The older man owned the ship that would be transporting them all to America, and Daryl had made the journey to and from Ireland several times with the older man and his ship. Daryl had recently purchased one of the cabin's inside of the ship for a decent price and even if it did only really consist of a bed, a desk and a small wardrobe, Daryl supposed that it had to be better than sleeping on the lower deck where the rest of the passengers resided.

"How did the meeting with Hershel Greene go?" Dale asked, and Daryl shrugged his shoulders in response. Dale lifted a brow to that. "Are you spoken for now?"

"Guess you could say that," Daryl muttered in response, slightly embarrassed at the awkwardness of the situation.

Dale had never been the type of man to beat around the bush. No, the man was passionate about what he believed in and was honest, too. Still, he certainly wasn't holding his curiosity back right now as his eyes scanned the surrounding area for a glimpse of the woman who could be Daryl's wife.

Putting Dale out of his misery, Daryl turned his body slightly so that he was looking in Beth's direction, immediately spotting her as she stood on her tiptoes peering into the window of Maggie's carriage. Her back was turned towards the two men and she seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact that she was being watched whilst she chattered away to her sister.

"That's your wife?" Dale asked when Daryl turned his body back towards him, disbelief evident in both the expression and the tone of Daryl's friend.

It was difficult for Daryl to know whether or not he should be offended at how shocked Dale was on receiving the news that Beth was his wife, but he found that he struggled to bring himself to be and so he simply nodded his head at Dale. The older man let out a hearty laugh at that and began to shake his head from side to side, clearly very amused.

Daryl placed both hands on his hips and narrowed his eyes.

"Wha's so funny?" he asked, frowning.

"Nothing, nothing," Dale said reassuringly, waving his hands dismissively in the air as his laughter subsided. "It's just... Your wife. She certainly is _not_ what I was expecting you to be coming back here with.

Daryl continued to frown down at the older man.

"It's a good thing," Dale said, only the hint of a smile on his lips now.

Daryl nodded.

"Okay."

Silence filled the air between them for a few beats until Dale cleared his throat.

"She looks like a beautiful young woman, even from a distance."

"She is," Daryl mumbled in confirmation, turning his head over his shoulder to look at Beth once more.

This time, it was as if Beth knew that Daryl was looking directly over at her, and she turned her head to face him from across the way where she was still stood on her tiptoes at Maggie's carriage.

Beth's eyes danced around Dale next to him as she inspected his friend, and when Daryl moved his head slightly to give her a nod of affirmation - one that said _'this guy is alright'_ \- Beth finally allowed herself to break out into a wide grin.

Daryl held the gaze of his wife for a longer few seconds until she decided to break their eye contact and return her attention back to her sister, causing Daryl to follow suit with Dale.

The older man was looking up at him with a playful look of horror painted onto his features.

"My, my," Dale said, his tone light and teasing. "I never thought that I would see the day that Daryl Dixon was smitten by a woman."

Daryl _tsk'd_ at him, shaking his head from side to side as he reached his arm out and pushed Dale in the shoulder.

"Quiet, ol' man," Daryl said as he brushed past Dale and entered the cabin, unable to hold back the smirk that was itching at his lips as he did so.

* * *

 **Bit of a fluffy one, but I wanted to push this story along ready for their journey to America.**

 **I'm no expert on popular songs from the 1800's and in the end I decided to just settle with** **a hymn for Beth to sing Daryl to sleep. When I've looked it up online, several sites state that 'Amazing Grace' was first written in 1779 and I'm not sure whether or not Beth would have really known it, but for the sake of this story, let's just pretend that she does.**

 **Thank you all for reading and please review!**


	13. Chapter 13

**I wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who was reviewed this story, and also to everyone who has favourited/followed it. It means a lot to me to know that you enjoy reading it just as much as I enjoy writing it!**

 **This chapter gets a little bit violent towards the end, and the beginning of the next chapter (I promise to update soon!) will be quite similar, so just a warning in case it's a trigger for anyone. Otherwise, enjoy!**

* * *

Beth rolled her body over from where she was lay in bed so that she was now positioned on her back, looking directly up at the ceiling of the cabin. A frustrated sigh escaped from her lips as her hands came to rest by her sides.

There was just something about tonight that wasn't settling well with her, although Beth couldn't for the life of her put her finger on what exactly it was that was bubbling inside of her.

 _"Just a bad feeling,"_ was what she had mumbled to Daryl before they had gone to bed. Her husband hadn't responded to her statement with any words. Instead, he had offered her a kiss on the forehead in a form of comfort and had pulled her body close to his, resting his head in the crook of her neck and wrapping his arms around her as though he was attempting to keep the negative thoughts at bay.

Beth appreciated Daryl's efforts; really, she did, but it was no use. Perhaps she would have put her inability to sleep down to the fact that she was nervous about the impending move to America and the fact that they were going to be setting sail i the morning. If she didn't know herself any better, she may have even put it down to the fact that she was staying in somewhere completely unfamiliar tonight.

But it wasn't anything like that. No, this was something _more -_ a horrible feeling tugging at her insides, something screaming at her every time she closed her eyes, making sure that she didn't allow herself to fall asleep. It was a haunting feeling and Beth felt completely at a loss of what to do, especially when her husband was sleeping soundly beside her.

With a deep breath inwards, Beth turned her head to the left so that she could get a better look at Daryl's sleeping form. Her husband seemed to be so much more at ease when he was sleeping; always looking so relaxed and peaceful, although Beth thought to herself that it was such a shame that Daryl could only reach that sense of calmness during his slumber. Daryl was becoming more and more comfortable around her and she was glad for it, too, but there was still so much that Beth had to learn about this man - so many facts about him left unknown, so many of her questions still unanswered.

Without thinking too much into it, Beth stretched out her hand into the small space that lay between them and reached out her fingers towards his face. The young woman brushed the tips of her fingers against his cheek, unable to stop a faint smile from creeping across her lips when he leaned into her touch.

It was apparent that Daryl was becoming more caring around her, and it hadn't even taken her husband very long to begin to return her affectionate advances - even if it was only ever so slightly. Beth was still very much so the one to initiate that sort of contact between them, but Daryl was learning quickly and responding appropriately, too. He was also becoming more confident in his own actions towards her, and whilst Daryl had initially behaved as though he thought that Beth might shy away from his touches, he now seemed to be much more solid in himself and in the recognition that she wouldn't do such a thing.

If anything, Beth encouraged his touches and his kisses. She hoped that her bright smiles and her silent nods and her soft moans were all the encouragement that Daryl needed to continue to behave in such a loving manner towards her.

 _Love._

Beth was uncertain about whether or not she was actually in love with Daryl yet.

The initial realisation that Beth was falling in love with him had washed over her quite naturally, and Beth was comfortable with it, too. But when it came down to the question of whether or not she was actually _in_ love with her husband - well, that was something that Beth was still debating over in her own mind. Was it possible to love someone you had only known for sixteen days? Was it possible to love a man who you still knew hardly anything about?

Her sister wasn't located very far from her at all, but Beth was incredibly reluctant to ask Maggie for any advice about the topic of love right now. It didn't take a genius to work out that Maggie and Glenn were very much in love with one another - after all, they had both risked their lives to escape from Mister Walsh so that they could be together, and Maggie had risked her entire reputation - and her family name, too - to be with Glenn. If those factors alone didn't indicate that the two of them were in love, then Beth was confident than running away from the country together so that they could be with one another in peace was definitely a sign that they were.

Still, Beth knew Maggie better than she knew anybody else, and her sister could be very proud when she wanted to be. Beth knew that if she asked her for some advice regarding her questions about love and Daryl, then Maggie would most likely give her a very basic, vague and yet smug answer about it all - something similar to _"you just **know** ", _and that definitely was not something that Beth was in any mood to hear from her sister.

The quiet sound of soft snores coming from Daryl's direction indicated to his wife that the man was in a deep state of sleep. She already half-knew that from the fact that Daryl hadn't immediately stirred awake when she touched his face with her fingers. All in all, her husband was a light sleeper, but once he was out of it - as in when he was in a deep state of sleep just like this, where he allowed her to trail her fingers over his closed eyes and down the brim of his nose, over the groove just above his mouth and the curve of his chapped lips - Daryl was well and truly dead to the world.

Beth smiled to herself as she trailed the pad of her thumb across his bottom lip and tugged on it gently before pulling her hand away from Daryl's face, finished with her exploration of his features. It had crossed her mind dozens of times that her husband was a handsome man and she thought it again as she watched him dozing, glad that he had finally been able to rest.

But Beth was still very much so uncertain about how long it had been that she had been awake, and from the darkness that covered their room - apparently, there was no moon to light up the sky tonight - Beth could tell that it had to be at least midnight, if not the early hours of the morning. She had been frozen in place in the bed that her and Daryl had claimed as their own for the night and eventually she let out another long sigh before pushing herself upright.

Telling herself that it would do her no good to just stay rooted in bed wide awake all night, Beth kicked off the covers from her legs and stood up from the bed. Sure enough, the cabin was incredibly dark; but it was small and simple enough, too, so Beth managed to manouever her way around it with ease.

She paused at the locked front door of the cabin, one of her hands resting on the knob whilst the other quietly fumbled around with the key that was positioned in the lock as though it was waiting for her all along. Once she had successfully clicked it open, Beth glanced over her shoulder and double-checked that her husband was still asleep before she pushed open the door and stepped outside into the cool air of the night.

* * *

Beth had told herself that fresh air would do her the world of good, and for the time being, it seemed that her suspicion was correct. She felt better almost instantly, the cool sea breeze causing goosebumps to appear on her skin and the freshness of the salty air made her lungs feel as though they were on fire. Strangely enough, all of those sensations were extremely satisfying, and Beth managed to shake off the nagging feeling in her mind that something was very wrong as she stepped out onto the grass and began to walk in the opposite direction of the cabin.

Deep down, Beth knew that she really shouldn't have been outside of the cabin on her own; especially not in the middle of a dark, cold night like tonight. Still, she had far been the only person who had been having trouble sleeping recently, and she hadn't wanted to disturb her husband from his sleep given that this was the first real opportunity that Daryl had managed to actually get a good night's sleep the last few days. The past forty eight hours alone had been long, tiring and stressful on Daryl's part as he finished off organising their trip, and Beth told herself that she wasn't selfish enough to wake Daryl from his slumber just so that she could feel a little bit more at ease as she explored the land of this unfamiliar place.

As far as Beth was aware, both Maggie and her lover were tucked away in their carriage, and judging by the lack of sound that was coming from it when she strolled past, both of them were sleeping as soundly as her husband was, too. A large part of Beth couldn't help but envy the pair of them in the same way that she envied Daryl; but after some consideration and the recollection of the ordeal that Maggie had endured over the coarse of these last few months, Beth tucked those thoughts away and supposed that she didn't mind all that much if her sister was finally able to get some rest now.

Perhaps that was her karma for having a somewhat easy life, Beth thought to herself. Those who had struggled during the daylight hours were finally able to get some rest during the night whilst she was still wide awake, desperate for the lull of sleep to take over her body, waiting painfully for it to come only for it never to wash over her.

Although this place was unfamiliar to her, Beth could still very much appreciate its beauty, and even in the darkness she knew that this patch of land that boarded the sea was absolutely magnificent. The ocean itself wasn't positioned too far from the cabin, and neither was the boat that would be taking them all across the ocean to America, either.

Before today, Beth had never seen the ocean before; nor had she seen a boat, either. Both of those things were much bigger than she had ever imagined that they would be, and she was still a little surprised at how grand the boat was that they would be boarding in the morning. The sound of the waves crashing against the sand somewhere in the distance was both equally calming and nerve-wracking, and as she looked out towards the sea, she couldn't help but once again wonder just how on earth a contraption as large as that boat was able to float along the waves with a sense of grace and ease.

When she had voiced her question to Daryl, he had chuckled at her and immediately began to explain about the mechanics of ships and how they ran. Beth, of course, was genuinely curious about the ins and outs of it, but that didn't necessarily mean that she understood half of what her husband was saying to her. As Daryl gave up trying to explain the intricacies of it all, Beth had huffed and crossed her arms over her chest half-playfully, half-seriously, and had told him stubbornly that the only reason she didn't quite understand what he was talking about was because of the unfamiliar terminology he was using in his descriptions.

Beth was far from stupid, but when it came to things like ships, she was hardly confident that she knew what on earth she - or anyone else, for that matter - was talking about.

In the end, her husband had smiled to himself and settled for placing a gentle kiss to her forehead, mumbling under his breath to her that everything would be fine and that she needn't worry herself about it too much.

 _Fine._

Would it really be, though?

The journey ahead of them was a long one; bound to last at least two weeks at the minimum, and then once they had set on American soil they still had at least another day or two of travelling by horse and carriage before they reached their destination. Beth didn't need Daryl to inform her that quite a lot of people nowadays were making a move to America, particularly people from Ireland and England, although immigrants were coming to the land from all over the globe. Still, she knew that not everybody made the long journey to the foreign world, and the thought of not surviving the possible rough journey at sea made her feel all sorts of queasy.

The ship that they would be boarding was due to set sail for America first thing in the morning (depending on the weather), and it was also set to carry plenty more passengers than just the four of them. Most of those passengers shared the same dream of starting a new life for themselves in America, and most of those passengers would also be settling in ready-placed beds below the main deck. It seemed that Maggie and Glenn would be joining those passengers below the deck, whilst Daryl and Beth would be somewhere above them, considering her husband owned a private little quarter that the pair of them would share. Daryl had reassured his wife that it would make her journey much more comfortable, but Beth wasn't entirely sure how true that would be.

As she walked further and further away from the cabin, Beth wondered to herself just how many times Daryl had ventured from his homeland to her own native country. According to Patricia, Daryl had made his current journey from America to Ireland for one reason, and that was to marry her. Originally, Beth hadn't been quite sure about that, but as she realised that Daryl really hadn't done much else other than marry her and arrange for someone else to begin renting out one of the properties that he owned in town, Beth supposed that Patricia's statement must have been true.

The young woman wasn't quite sure how she felt about that.

In ways, it unnerved her. She could never imagine embarking on such a long journey for the purpose of marrying a person that she had never even met before. Her light eyes darted towards the ocean and she briefly stopped in her tracks for a moment, looking out towards the dark waters and thinking about what lay beyond. Now that she was Daryl's wife, it was more than just expected of her to return to America with him; but she found that in contrast to what she originally thought that she would feel, Beth actually _wanted_ to go with him.

The prospect of travelling was quite new to Beth. After all, she had spent all of the last twenty years of her live living in the little town that she was born in, housed with her mama and her daddy and her older sister, as well as employees like Patricia and Otis. It had only been little over two weeks since Beth had left that farmhouse that she had called her home for so long to go and live with her husband, and now, here she was; getting ready to set sail on a boat - a real life _ship_ with a captain and sails and decks - and then she would be living in Georgia, a state that she had never even heard of before until Daryl had mentioned it to her.

Not only did her husband own property across Ireland, but he owned it across America, too. Beth understood that even once they settled in Georgia, he would continue to travel, to buy and rent properties and manage the staff in them, too. It was a part of his job, a part of his _life,_ and even now as his wife, Beth could hardly expect him to drop it and not to leave their marital home simply because she had arrived on the scene and wanted him to stay close to her. Beth was his wife and her duty was to him; to please him, to do as he wished - not the other way round. And even though Daryl never made Beth feel as though their relationship was simply dutiful, she still wondered whether it actually was.

For a moment, Beth entertained herself with the though of Daryl wanting her to travel across his home country with him, too. The idea of the two of them trecking across America made her smile to herself, and even if she never admitted it out loud, Beth knew that she would be happy going anywhere so long as he accompanied her.

As Beth pondered to herself into the darkness of the night, she began to realise that she had managed to put quite a lot of distance between herself and the cabin that her husband was presumably still soundly asleep inside of. Beth froze in her movements, turning her head over her shoulder to glance back at the cabin longingly.

A few seconds passed by as Beth debated over whether or not she should continue with her unintentional exploration of the surrounding area or whether she should return back to he cabin; back to the bed, back to her _husband,_ and try and get some much-needed sleep.

The wind that came along with the sea was much more violent and bold than what she was used to, and a sudden gust of it caught her off guard. It whipped around her night dress, causing it to fly upwards and reveal more of her pale thighs than she ever would do normally, and it was with that that Beth realised just how _cold_ it was outside and just how exposed she was, too.

With a shudder, Beth pivoted on the spot and began to make her way back towards the cabin, suddenly very much so determined to get back into bed and warm herself up against the constant heat supply that was her husband.

* * *

Humming was an unconscious decision.

Apparently, for Beth, it always was. She never really did think much into her humming or her singing when she was actively doing things. The only time that she ever really did notice that she was even doing it was when she had to suddenly stop.

It was as she walked parallel to the carriage that Maggie and Glenn were sleeping in and heard the sound of shuffling footsteps somewhere in the area that Beth halted in both her walking and her humming.

As beautiful as this unfamiliar place was, it was quite eery, too. Beth's body shuddered in the darkness, although she was unsure as to whether it was because she was feeling quite cold in the night air or because she had managed to frighten herself silly.

Even though she tried to rationalise with herself, her heart thumped loudly against her chest. Beth had realised that she was far from alone and had narrowed her eyes as she scanned the surrounding area in an attempt to get a better look at who could possibly be awake at this time, but the darkness hindered her vision greatly. As far as Beth could tell, nobody was really around; but it was so dark outside that it was practically impossible to tell since she struggled to see anything that wasn't directly in front of her.

For a long few seconds it was silent, and Beth thought to herself that she must have imagined the footsteps. Perhaps she was growing tired after all and was starting to imagine that she had company.

But then she heard it again; the definite sound of footsteps padding against the grass, and her breathing hitched in her throat as her eyes widened. Beth desperately scanned the field for something - _anything_ \- in the darkness that would give her a clue as to who her company was, but found that there really was nothing worth noting down.

Beth quickly decided that maybe it wasn't such a wise decision for her to have ventured outside of the cabin alone in the darkness of the night after all, and her hands began to tremble from where they were positioned at her sides as she listened to the sound of someone's heavy breathing echoing through the cool air.

From what she could tell by the person's breathing, they weren't exactly close by, and Beth took the opportunity to bolt to a nearby tree that she could press herself up against so that she would hopefully go unnoticed. The uneven bark of the tree rubbed painfully against her back through her thin night dress as she pulled her body firm against it, but Beth willed herself not to make a sound despite being quite uncomfortable as her pulse pounded in her throat.

Scanning the surrounding area was difficult enough from where she had been stood before, but it was even more difficult now that she was further away from the sound of the person breathing. Beth waited, frozen in place for what could have easily been hours as she tried to decipher whether anything else was happening at all, but all that she could hear was the person shuffling every now and then and breathing, too.

After a while, Beth scolded herself for being so silly and scaring herself something daft. After all, the person on the other side of the carriage could easily be Maggie or Glenn, walking around in the night because, like her, they were unable to sleep. Or perhaps it could have been Daryl, woken from his slumber to find that she wasn't where she was supposed to be - which was in bed with him - and he had ventured outside to find her, struggling in the darkness of the night and -

"Where is she?"

Beth's light eyes widened in the darkness as she recognised the sound of the hushed voice almost immediately. The sound of feet scraping against the ground caused her eyes to widen impossibly more and she held her breath as she pushed herself even further against the tree, listening intently to the muffled mumbles that came from the other side of the carriage.

"I - who are you?" another voice answered, stuttering in the darkness. Beth recognised the voice to belong to the man who had been driving Maggie and Glenn's carriage.

" _That_ certainly ain't your concern," the voice returned, and Beth clenched her fists at the sound of it.

How had he found them?

Her eyes darted across the grass towards the cabin that was so close and yet seemed so far away from her, too. There was absolutely no way that she would be able to reach it without being noticed, if not by Shane, then at least by the man who it sounded like he had pinned against the carriage. From where Beth was positioned at the tree, all she was able to see was the pair of boots that were clearly worn by Mister Walsh rooted firmly to the ground on the opposite side of the carriage, whilst the ones that belonged to the carriage driver were dangling slightly in the air.

The front door of the cabin was positioned directly in line with the side door of the carriage that Shane had the driver pinned up against, and Beth swallowed in an attempt to do _something_ about her dry throat.

"I asked you a question," Shane's voice spat, still somewhat hushed as if he knew that Beth was close by, trying her hardest to listen. "Where. Is. She?"

If she was being honest with herself, Beth knew that it wasn't her who Shane would be worried was around, but she tried not to think too much about it as she pushed herself from the safety of the tree. Her instincts seemed to take over and even though her mind was screaming at her not to approach the carriage and get too close to Shane, Beth's body seemed to take over as she calmly tiptoed closer and closer to the place that her sister and her lover were sleeping.

"W-w-which one?" the driver stuttered out. Even though his voice was hushed in a similar manner to Shane's, it had also noticeably increased in pitch and he sounded as though he was bordering on hysterical.

Not that Beth could blame him.

She was probably quite close herself.

"What d'ya _mean,_ which fuckin' one?" Shane hissed, and Beth winced at the sound of the driver choking. "My _wife._ Where is she?"

Beth finally reached the carriage, a shaky breath escaping her lips as she gently pressed herself against it. Not sure of what else to do, she quietly began to tap on the outside of the carriage, hoping that the sound might just reach inside and disturb Glenn and Maggie from their slumber. Perhaps they would be able to do something to stop Shane from his attack on the driver of their carriage.

Her gaze darted back over to the cabin and she longed for Daryl more than anyone, knowing in her heart that he would probably do a much better job of scaring off Shane than her sister would; or her lover, for that matter.

The sound of her heart pumping in her ears only became more violent when Shane threw the driver of the carriage towards the ground. Beth heard his body slump against the floor and she crouched down instinctively, peering underneath the carriage and looking at the young man's lifeless body sprawled out against the grass. Her gaze was locked on the unconscious man as she debated over whether he was dead or alive, and in doing so she completely missed the tell-tale signs of Shane's approach round the side of the carriage - the sound of his boots squelching against the floor and the sight of them moving from her gaze.

Unfortunately, by the time that Beth realised she had been caught, it was too late.

Light blue eyes met with dark brown in the black of the night. Within seconds, Shane was reaching down towards her and grabbing her upper arm in a vice-like grip that caused her to cry out in pain. The older man sneered at her and even in the darkness, Beth noted that his eyes were large and wild. He cursed under his breath and raised his hand towards her, pulling it back slightly as if he was getting ready to slap her across the face.

When the harsh blow finally came, Beth opened her mouth and screamed into the night, closing her eyes as Shane cursed once more and moved as if to hit her again.

* * *

 **I'm not really very practiced in writing action or violent scenes, so this chapter and the one that follows might not be as strong as what you're used to reading from those genres, so please be kind with your judgement!**

 **On another note; I've had a few questions in regards to Glenn and Daryl that I wanted to address. In terms of Daryl's age, I've not mentioned it purely because I really am undecided at how old I want to pin him at. If I eventually decide, I'll make sure to slip it in, but I really don't know. I mean, how old is he supposed to be on the show? How old is Reedus? I'm a little bit clueless with that sort of stuff but in this, I imagine him to be dancing somewhere around his early thirties, probably no younger than that. But really, feel free to imagine him as old or as young as you like, it's not really very important in this fic!**

 **Also, in regards to Glenn, he's still Korean in this fic. I know the era that I'm writing this story in makes Maggie's affair even more scandalous due to his nationality, and I've already hinted towards themes of racism when Daryl warned Sasha about the new tenant, but all in all I'm probably not going to explore it as a problem for the pair of them. Probably because this is a Bethyl fic and not a Maggie/Glenn fic, but I don't know. I guess it's kind of similar to Daryl's age; imagine it how you want, and if you want me to incorporate it and hint towards it being a problem in this fic, then let me know and I'll do my best to slip it in there somewhere.**

 **Anyway, thanks so much for reading and please review!**


	14. Chapter 14

**I've never really written an action scene before, but I've given it my best shot.**

 **Most of this scene has quite violent undertones that I'm not really used to writing, and if this is a trigger for anyone then I would like to put it out there that this will (probably) be the only chapter of it's kind in this story. I've never really wrote anything violent before (just the slap that Beth gave Maggie in 'Only One', and that was hardly violent at all!) so I wanted to try something a little bit different. It's a theme that I haven't really explored before and I don't know whether I would say it's necessarily descriptive or dark, but I wanted to warn you all the same.**

 **Anyway... Enjoy!**

* * *

It all happened so quickly.

The stench of alcohol was strong on Shane's skin and his clothes as he loomed over her, so close to her body that Beth could feel his warm breath on her face each time he exhaled a shaky breath. That sensation combined with the sickening smell of alcohol - so much stronger than she had ever smelt before, even on her own father's breath - made her toes curl and her face wrinkle up in disgust. And each blow that the older man delivered to her body was more painful and more harsh than the previous one, and Beth didn't hesitate to shriek out in paint into the darkness of the night each time his fist collided with a new part of her body despite his muffled commands that she keep her _"fucking mouth shut"._

And there were a few times when Shane missed his target; presumably due to the fact that he was beyond intoxicated, and Beth was surprised that he was even able to hold himself upright, never mind attack her so viciously. But then there were other times - more common times - when Shane managed to hit her dead on, and Beth quickly learned that her face was his favourite place to aim for.

What she had done to anger him in this way, she wasn't sure. Okay, she had helped her sister run away from him with her lover - but honestly, could Shane _really_ blame her? His rough and abusive reaction to her eavesdropping on his conversation with the carriage driver seemed so vicious and his facial expression was filled with so much hate and loathing that Beth didn't think that she deserved. The whole time she had planned this out - this adventure to America, this escape for her sister from Shane - she had only been putting Maggie first; only trying to help her sister, only trying to do what seemed _right,_ what seemed good. Beth had known deep down that she would have never been able to forgive herself if she left her older sister behind to live with this man and now she was witnessing first-hand exactly what she would have been leaving Maggie to deal with.

The shouts that came from somewhere in the distance were barely audible to her as Shane continued his beating. Beth had given up wriggling and squirming against him almost immediately after his attack upon her had began. Learning that she was completely overpowered by him hadn't taken her long, and the tight grip that he had on her upper arm in order to hold her steady in place was painful enough as it was without Beth making it worse by trying to fight against him. Each time her body jolted in reaction to a kick or a punch or a smack, his fingers squeezed tighter around the pale flesh of her arm, and Beth was confident that he would be leaving behind more than bruises on her body.

It could have been minutes or it could have been hours after Shane had first assaulted her that she heard _him_ coming. And even though the attack on Beth's body still wasn't finished, even though Shane continued to beat down on her with his bloody knuckles, a sense of relief washed over her when she heard Daryl's approach.

He wasn't quiet about it, either.

Those who had already boarded the ship would no doubt be able to hear the wild shouts of her husband as he rushed over to where Shane had her pinned up against Maggie's carriage, his hands locking around Shane's shoulders and pulling the older man from where he was grasping at Beth. When Shane was flung backwards and away from her, Beth couldn't do anything but slump down the side of the carriage and fall into a heap on the ground, her body trembling violently as she lay on her back against the grass.

Lips parted and eyes wide, Beth knew that she was probably in a state of shock as she strained to turn her head to one side so that she could see what exactly was going on around her.

In the corner of one eye, Beth could see the outline of her sister. Her hazel eyes were wide, too, and one of her hands covered her open mouth as Maggie stared at the scene in front of her. Glenn was there, too, standing protectively in front of her sister with his hand outstretched across her middle as though he was holding her back. There was blood on his face, too, although Beth couldn't recollect a moment when Shane would have had the opportunity to assault him considering his attack on her had been relentless and seemingly never-ending.

And then, of course, there was Daryl; but Beth could only just make out his figure as he pinned Shane to the ground before her eyes rolled into the back of her head. She could hear him shouting, though: some of it inaudible and incomprehensible, other parts clear as day. Loud curses and wild threats, phrases like _"my wife"_ and _"you bastard"_ thrown in the air around them.

Beth had never heard her husband sound so out of control, and it slightly sickened her that a part of her _enjoyed_ it. Of course she didn't want to see him worked up or hear his voice breaking from the anger and hurt that he felt in that moment, but she was so thankful that he had arrived, so glad that Daryl was there to save her from Shane's hands.

Still, Beth couldn't help but feel _numb._ The side of her head was throbbing painfully from the force of one too many of Shane's punches, but _still -_ she didn't feel it the way that she knew that she should. It was as though it was just pulsing in the background instead of burning at her skin and Beth hardly had time to recognise that she was slipping out of consciousness.

It continued that way for some time; although exactly how much time had passed by them all, she couldn't be sure, still lay in the grass listening to the sound of Daryl's fists colliding with Shane's flesh, the sound of Shane's pained grunts, Glenn's heavy breathing and Maggie's muffled cries.

And then, there was silence.

Someone cursed under their breath - _Dale?_ When had Daryl's friend arrived? Beth hadn't even realised that he was there, too, although he may have approached after Shane had thrown her to the floor. And then someone was towering over her; big hands coming to rest on her delicate shoulders, her body being shaken, albeit gently.

The sound of her name slipped out from her husband's lips several times before Beth mustered up the strength to flutter open her eyelids.

Daryl's face was close to hers, his eyes filled with an emotion that she couldn't quite name as he sighed out in relief, his breathing shaky as he looked down in disbelief at her. Beth knew that she must have looked awful; all bloody and bruised, her nightdress stained by the grass and her hair knotted around her face. She offered her husband a weak smile and tried to open her mouth to say something to him - perhaps a thank you, perhaps an apology - but Daryl shushed her immediately before she even got the chance to say a word.

In the background, someone said something - Beth thought that the voice could have belonged to Dale, but the loud ringing in her ears made it difficult for her to hear what was being said properly so she couldn't be quite sure - and Daryl simply nodded his head in response to whatever it had been that the person said. He returned his attention back towards her and gave her a sympathetic look before he scooped Beth up in his arms, the action so effortless on Daryl's part that Beth would have thought that she weighed absolutely nothing at all if she didn't know better.

Beth's head lolled against her husband's shoulder and she instinctively reached out to grip onto some of the buttons of his nightshirt, her grip on them loose as most of her energy had been drained. Daryl held her tightly to his chest, his strong arms wrapped protectively around her as he walked them away from where the commotion had taken place - where Maggie was hyperventilating and where Shane was lying lifeless against the ground - and headed in the direction of the cabin.

"Are you mad at me?"

Beth's voice was small and her words were slightly slurred, eyelids hooded and heavy due to exhaustion. She barely caught the frown that Daryl offered her as a result of her words before her eyelids closed.

"No," he responded simply, eyes narrowed down at her. He muttered something under his breath before he raised his voice slightly; still quiet and soft as though he was taking extra care not to frighten her, but louder and much more frantic all of the same. "Damn, girl, why would I be mad at you?"

Beth squeezed her eyes shut for a long moment as she drew in a deep breath, the throbbing in her head suddenly becoming much more intense. As far as Beth could recall, she had never been physically attacked before, and Shane had hardly taken it easy on her with his brutal punching and kicking.

"I was out on my own," Beth murmured, her voice low with shame and guilt as she opened one of her eyes to glance up at her husband.

The night sky was still pitch black and despite his close proximity, it was still quite difficult to make out most of Daryl's features. She heard - and felt - him let out a huff in response to her comment, and even though she couldn't quite see all of his face from the angle that she was resting at, Beth could picture his irritated expression boldly in her mind.

"Ain't mad," he told her, shaking his head. "Not at you. S'not your fault."

Whether or not she believed Daryl's words, Beth couldn't be sure; but as far as she was aware, her husband had never lied to her before and she couldn't imagine him starting now. Beth didn't want to press the issue further, anyway, instead allowing her eyelids to droop to a close once more. She revelled in the feeling of being pressed against her husband's chest like this - even if it wasn't necessarily in the best circumstances. Over the last few weeks, Beth had found that their bodies always seemed to slot so perfectly against each other's in a way that had her thinking that maybe, just maybe she was _supposed_ to be there, and that was definitely something that Beth appreciated.

The sound of the cabin door creaking open only caused Beth to snuggle her head further into Daryl's chest and she continued to grip loosely onto the buttons of his nightshirt as he kicked the door to a close. Daryl closed the distance between them and the old bed in just a few strides, and Beth's grip on his shirt tightened dramatically when she felt him finally begin to lower her down onto the mattress.

"Easy," he murmured in her ear as her back rested on the bed. Daryl covered her hand with his own and guided it away from his shirt, willing it to fall by her side in defeat. A little whimper escaped Beth's lips after her husband had covered her with the blanket and made a move away from her.

Of course Beth knew that she was being needy, more desperate for affection and contact from Daryl than she had ever been before, but after the violent events of the night, she couldn't worry herself too much about it. Instead, Beth was just relieved that she still felt _something,_ even if it was an overwhelming sense of need for him to be impossibly closer.

Daryl muttered something under his breath before he began to pace around the cabin, and it took Beth a few seconds to realise that he was checking that the windows and the door were all locked up tightly and securely. A part of her wanted to reach out to him, to reassure Daryl that there was no way that anything else was going to happen to either of them - after all, he had practically beaten Shane to a pulp and left him for dead in the dirt: there was no way that the man was going to be coming back for more any time soon (if he was even alive come morning). But she remained silent, knowing deep down that it was probably best to leave her husband to it.

Everyone dealt with things differently, and if this was his way of dealing with what had happened outside, then so be it.

Part of her wanted to reassure him that he had practically beaten Shane to a pulp and that there was no way that the man would be coming back for more any time soon - if he was even alive come morning - but Beth knew that it was probably best to leave her husband to it. If this is what made him feel better, more relaxed and at ease, then she wouldn't complain to him about it.

When Daryl eventually sank into bed beside her, Beth wasted no time in rolling herself over towards him and wrapping herself into his arms. Daryl reacted immediately, holding her impossibly close and tangling her limbs with his own. She shuddered against his skin as a few tears began to trickle down her cheeks, but the motion of his hands running up and down her back soothed her and caused Beth to relax into him, her breathing becoming much more steady and even.

"Are you okay?"

Daryl's raspy voice broke the silence that echoed throughout the room and Beth only responded by nodding her head into the crook of his neck, not wanting to part from his grasp now or ever. Tonight had seen her feeling the most weak and helpless that she ever had before, and the young woman dreaded to even think about what would or could have happened to her had Daryl not arrived in time to pry her from Shane's grasp.

"Thank you," she murmured to him sometime later, when sleep was starting to beckon her. Daryl buried his face into her hair and let out a heavy breath, shaking his head against her in disagreement.

"Ain't no need to thank me, Beth," he told her, his voice cracking slightly as he spoke.

And she wanted to tell him that of _course_ there was a need to thank him. Daryl had done so much for her already, and now he had saved her - literally _saved_ her - from something that she would have never imagined happening to her before this evening.

So Beth wanted to tell Daryl everything that she felt in that moment. She wanted to express to him the honest truth - that he had done more for her in the short space of time that she had known him than she ever expected him to do for her in a lifetime, that she would never be anything but thankful, anything but grateful for everything that he had done for her. And not only everything that he had done for her, but her sister, too, all to ensure that she was happy and comfortable with her life.

But she didn't.

Instead, Beth chose to place a kiss to the bottom of his neck where she lay and sniffled as she snuggled her head further against him so that she was even closer than before. Beth could feel the pulse in his neck fluttering away and it calmed her own racing heart dramatically, stilling her shaking hands from where they trembled around his waist. It wasn't long before they both allowed sleep to take over their exhausted bodies, neither of them dreaming of anything tonight.

And Beth knew that there would be a lot for them both to do in the morning. The pair of them were dirty, all covered in mud and dried up blood. She wasn't sure about Daryl, but Beth knew that she had wounds - cuts on her skin that desperately needed tending to, but she didn't have the strength to stay awake in order to clean them. Tomorrow was a new day; a day that they would set sail for a new world and leave this one behind, this one where Shane had come back to kill her sister and ended up attacking her, this one where her alcoholic of a father had barely even said goodbye to her.

For now, Beth was content to just fall asleep, finding comfort in the way that her body was pressed up so tightly against Daryl's. And if in the morning they had a lot to do, then so be it - in that moment, the only thing that Beth could care enough about to do was to kiss her husband on the shoulder and allow her body to relax.

* * *

 **So yeah... That's how I've got rid of Shane.**

 **It doesn't matter whether he's dead or alive because he's not coming back so you can imagine him being either way, it's really whatever you would prefer. I had a very similar scene to this pictured in my head when I first began writing this story and that's why I decided to have Shane marry Maggie etc, all to build up to this. It's all part of the story of Beth falling in love with Daryl and I just needed a bad guy for this chapter really, and he's served his purpose now so I don't really need him anymore (hooray)! Haha.**

 **From the next chapter onwards, we will see the couple set sail to America. I think I might make the journey there just one chapter - probably two at the most - so that I can finally put them on Georgia soil, and Beth can get to meeting Merle and start to learn more about her husband and his past.**

 **As always, thank you so, so much for reading and please review!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hello everyone!**

 **For a while, I got quite used to daily updates/every other day updates etc. But me and my boyfriend had almost one week off work together and he had planned lots of things for us to do so I found that it's taken me quite a while to finish this! But it's here now. I've also started writing another Bethyl fic, which is an AU one but set during the ZA (I've never written ZA before!) called 'Once Upon A Dream', and I'll probably be alternating between all of my stories as to which I update and when - some every other day, some every day, etc.**

 **This chapter is the two weeks of travelling on the ship rolled into one. I hope you don't think that I've rushed that journey or anything, but I don't know much about ships or sailing to America (or anywhere, really) as it is, so I wanted to kind of push them towards the USA more than anything. Also, I've not really addressed what happened with Shane much in this chapter... I'm still undecided on whether I'm going to have Beth really effected by it or not. In terms of her relationship with Daryl, what happened is going to bring the two of them closer, but it's going to push her well away from Maggie as she realises that her sister was kind of useless. But as to whether you would like to see it effecting her emotionally in the rest of this story... Well, you'll have to let me know.**

 **Anyway - enjoy!**

* * *

The room was spinning - up and down and side to side - when Beth finally woke up from her long slumber. Considering everything that had happened to her at the hands of Shane, her body felt sore, but nothing all too drastic or excruciatingly painful.

Still, that didn't mean that her muscles weren't _aching,_ so Beth rolled herself over in her bed with a groan. She stretched out her tense and tender muscles and rubbed gently at her eyes with the backs of her hands. Memories of the night before slowly but surely came flooding back to her; of Shane's big and violent hands grabbing at her body, of Maggie stood helplessly and of Glenn's bloody face, of Daryl carrying her back to the cabin...

 _Daryl._

The name of her husband escaped her lips in a broken cry - almost a sob - and her light blue eyes shot open when the realisation that the bed that she was resting in was empty hit her. She repeated his name several times until he finally rushed into the room, his strong arms wrapping around her without and signs of hesitation. Daryl held her tightly, mumbling incoherent words into her hairline as she gripped tightly onto the back of her husband's shirt for dear life.

Panic had overcame her, although Beth couldn't be sure exactly why she was reacting that way. Perhaps it was stress or confusion or even exhaustion, but she was in no position to dwell on it.

"What happened?" Beth stuttered, her voice barely above a whisper. Daryl's grip on her body loosened ever so slightly whilst he used his weight to push Beth's body farther down onto the bed, finally unwrapping his arms from around her back once she was lay back on the mattress, choosing to place them on her shoulder's instead. Daryl's body was leaning over Beth's slightly from his sitting position, his deep blue eyes staring straight into her own.

The expression on his face was unreadable.

"I dunno," Daryl muttered, breaking eye contact with her and shaking his head from left to right. "Shane... I don't know how the fuck he got t'you. An' I don' even know what happened before I got there."

He went quiet for a long moment then, pausing in his motions of shaking his head and visibly swallowing. Beth didn't say anything to break the silence, however, instead her eyes focused on him - wide and curious and even somewhat panicked. After a long few seconds, Daryl's chin rose and he peered down at her, his gaze determined and intense.

"All I know's tha' you don't have t'worry 'bout him no more."

It was in that moment that Beth recalled the sight of Shane's body lay limp and lifeless on the cool ground as Daryl picked her up and carried her over towards the cabin. As much as she wanted to be disgusted by her husband's brutal beating of the other man - after all, Beth had never been one to approve or violence or aggression; had never really experienced those emotions herself or dealt with them on others before - she couldn't bring herself to be. In fact, Beth couldn't bring herself to feel anything but relief.

So Beth nodded her head at her husband in understanding, their gaze never breaking except for their blinking.

"Daryl," Beth said, her husband's name sounding more of a question. His only response was to raise a brow at her expectantly. "W-where are we?"

It had only been a few seconds before that Beth had realised that they weren't in the room that she had fallen asleep in. Beth and Daryl weren't in the cabin anymore - she recalled it being bigger and much darker than this.

The sight of Daryl frowning and tugging at the bed sheets confused her and caused that sense of panic to rise up in her chest once more.

"Daryl," she repeated, his name coming out more urgently this time, more demanding. "Where _are_ we?"

His thumb came up to his mouth and he nibbled on the skin there almost nervously.

"We're... On the ship," Daryl said. Beth's eyes widened dramatically at that. The young woman may not have been married to the man sat above her for very long - or known him for very long, either - but she was learning more and more about him each day and she could tell from his behaviour that he obviously thought that she would be angry at that news. For what reason, she couldn't be sure - perhaps he thought that she would have wanted to be awoken before they boarded the ship, or maybe that she would have wanted to see it set sail, at least.

In all honesty, after everything that had happened with Shane, Beth couldn't care less whether or not she was awake or asleep when the ship first set sail for America.

"You were passed out," Daryl explained, pulling his thumb away from his mouth. "Had t'carry you on here. Tried wakin' you, but... You jus' wouldn't."

At his words, Beth's cheeks blushed a deep shade of crimson, and a little laugh escaped her lips. Daryl looked surprised at the sound of it and seemed almost amused when she placed a hand over her mouth.

"Oh," Beth gasped, feeling more than just a little bit embarrassed as the image of Daryl carrying her sleeping form aboard the ship entered her mind. "Oh. Daryl, I'm sorry."

It was Daryl's turn to laugh then - or chuckle, really - as he shook his head.

"Don't 'pologise," he told her, smirking as she let out a soft sigh. "Ain't nothin' t'me. 'Sides..." he trailed off, seeming a little bit uncomfortable. "Guess you needed the rest, after what happened."

The young woman swallowed then.

"I don't even know what happened," she told him, feeling the need to explain herself to Daryl.

She knew that he wasn't angry with her - her husband was behaving far too relaxed in Beth's presence to be even close to feeling anything similar to anger towards her - but still, Beth _wanted_ him to hear her explanation. After all, he had gone above and beyond her expectations after Shane's attack.

At least, he had done more for her than Maggie had bothered to do - and that was her own _sister._ Her own flesh and blood; someone that she had tried to save from a horrible life, and all Maggie had done was stand there and watch as Beth was beaten by _her_ husband.

"I just... I couldn't sleep, and wanted to get some fresh air. And then the next thing I knew, Shane was talking to the carriage driver and asking for Maggie. And then he found me, and I..." Beth trailed off, wincing inadvertently as her head began to throb painfully. "I just wanted to thank you, I suppose. You've been far too kind to me, and I can never repay you for -"

"Beth," Daryl cut her off, his tone soft yet demanding. Beth fell silent immediately and looked up at her husband with wide eyes, not having realised that she had been staring at the bed sheets furiously until their eyes reconnected. "Stop."

Beth released a shaky breath at his gentle command and suddenly felt the tension slip from her body, her shoulders sagging in relief.

"Okay," she said, her voice barely above a whisper as her head nodded up and down. "Okay."

* * *

The ship was _big._

Much bigger than Beth had expected it to be, at least. The young woman had never seen a ship in real life before, never mind been on one; so she wasn't sure whether this ship in particular was grand or small - but still, at least to Beth, it was big.

Quickly, she learned that there were many different dimensions and sections and rooms that she had never imagined there to be. Once she had been able to quickly wash herself over, comb her hair and change into some more appropriate clothing, Daryl happily took her on a tour of the ship. Her husband offered to take her down to the quarters where Maggie was staying with Glenn and the other passengers, but Beth politely declined his invitation and instead asked whether they would be able to get something to eat.

Daryl had smirked at her request, and Beth wondered whether she should feel guilty for not wanting to see her sister.

"Is Maggie expecting me?" Beth asked once they had got some broth from the kitchen and had seated themselves at a table to eat.

Daryl shrugged his shoulders at her and let out a low grunt in response, not offering much of an answer to her. A few weeks ago, Beth would have probably accepted that sort of response from him and not pushed it any further; but the more that she got to know about her husband - the more that she learned about him, the more that she began to understand his behaviour and his mannerisms - the more that Beth felt that she could relax around him.

As well as being comfortable around Daryl, Beth was learning that she could be honest around him, too. With her father, she had always known that her place was to be quiet; to play the doting daughter and to do as she was told, and Beth knew that she could speak to him if she needed to, but if it wasn't entirely necessary, then she didn't really need to whatsoever. With Daryl, however, things were _different -_ in a good way, too. Beth was beginning to realise that she really could tell him anything and everything and speak to him about whatever was on her mind, and not only would he listen to her, but he would actually be interested, too.

"Daryl."

The sound of his name escaping her lips so tenderly caused him to immediately look up from where he was dipping some bread into his broth. He stilled completely in his movements, his deep blue eyes boring straight into her own whilst his body stayed frozen in place; one elbow leaning on the table, the bread still half-dipped into the liquid meal whilst his upper body bent forward above the bowl.

Had their conversation not had a serious tone to it, then Beth would have probably giggled at the sight of him.

"Wha'?" he asked after a few long moments of silence.

Beth frowned and repeated her first question to him.

"I dunno," Daryl responded to her with a shrug of his shoulders, finally removing his bread from the broth and taking a large bite of it. "Haven't spoken to her."

"You've not?" Beth asked, her brows furrowing together. She was genuinely surprised at Daryl's answer, although she couldn't exactly explain why - it was simply that she had expected him to have been communicating with her sister; if not out of general politeness and courtesy, then simply to update her on Beth's well-being.

Daryl just shook his head at her in confirmation of her answer and shoved the rest of his bread into his mouth whilst Beth slowly stirred her broth with her spoon.

"I didn't want to."

The sound of Daryl's voice caught Beth by surprise, although she tried her best not to let it show too much. He didn't elaborate for a little while; and whilst he was silent, Beth simply blinked at him, a blank expression on her face as she waited for her husband to explain himself further.

"Talk to Maggie," he said after a few more seconds. Daryl let out a long, heavy sigh then and hung his head slightly, avoiding eye contact with Beth as though he was ashamed or embarrassed. "I didn't want to talk to Maggie. S'why I didn't."

Beth blinked a few more times, unsure of what to say.

"Oh."

A part of her wanted to ask Daryl why exactly it was that he didn't want to talk to her sister, but her husband quickly returned his attention to his food and broke their intense eye contact once again. Beth couldn't feel disappointed, though; more than anything, the young woman was relieved.

More than anything, she knew why it was that Daryl hadn't wanted to talk with Maggie - more than anything, she _understood_ it, because it was exactly the same way that she felt, too.

* * *

"You look beautiful, Mrs Dixon."

Even though she had been referred to by the title of 'Mrs Dixon' plenty of times now (after all, she and Daryl had been married for almost one month), the sound of it still made her heart rate accelerate and her lips turn upwards into a small smile. The first time that Dale had called her by that title, she had blushed and ducked her head shyly, and the older man had noticed her behaviour immediately. He offered her a knowing look - his kind eyes and soft smile making her feel much more comfortable and at ease - and told her that she should revel in the early stages of her marriage and enjoy the little things that made her smile.

Like being called Mrs Dixon.

More than anything, though, Beth loved hearing her husband calling her by that title. He didn't do it often - most of the time, he simply called her by her first name - but Beth had a feeling that Daryl knew exactly what he was doing to her when he called her that.

Beth giggled at his words from where she lay beneath him on the bed, his hands resting on either side of her head to support the weight of his arms, his naked body resting on top of hers. Beth was still a little flushed and slightly breathless from their antics, but she didn't hesitate to reach up and wrap her arms around Daryl's neck, pulling him closer so that she could press a soft but loving kiss to his lips.

And in that moment, Beth pondered on that one little word: _love._ Was she in love with Daryl yet?

It was hard for her to decide. After all, Beth had never been in love before.

Of course, she had loved - loved people and loved things. She had loved her horse and she had loved riding. She had loved her mama and her daddy, despite all of his faults. She loved her sister, despite hers. And Beth loved the colour of the sky when the sun was first rising and she loved the sound of the birds singing. Beth loved the way in which her life was so full of surprises - surprises like unexpected marriages, surprises like Daryl Dixon.

But was she in love with the man?

In all of the romantic novels that she had read, Beth found that love was something that characters experienced quite suddenly and quite soon - but that simply wasn't the way that Beth felt that she loved Daryl. The feelings that she had for him - the ones that were burning strongly and surely within her chest - had been building there over time; from the moment that they first met and he kissed her hand until this moment now, when he was running his nose up and down the length of her throat, tickling the soft skin there with his stubble.

If Beth was in love with Daryl, then their love had formed slowly, at an almost snail-like pace. Beth was still learning more and more about this man and what being with him was all about, and as much as she knew that she cared for him deeply, Beth knew that she really couldn't be sure as to whether or not she was in love with him.

Not yet.

"Stop thinkin'," Daryl murmured against her jawline as he began to pepper kisses against her there. Her skin was still slightly bruised and sore from where Shane had laid his hands upon her, and although Beth was hardly confident about them and thought that they were ugly - all faded yellows and light greens and purples - Daryl's affectionate behaviour continued to reassure her that they didn't mean anything at all.

 _"They jus' show how strong you are,"_ he had whispered to her just a few nights before when she had found herself feeling quite self-conscious, looking at her body in the mirror and trailing her hands over the marks that had been left there at the hands of her sister's husband. Beth couldn't be certain if Daryl had kissed each and every one of her bruises that night, but she was confident that if he didn't kiss them all, then he had only missed one or two.

Beth giggled softly, unable to help the natural reaction at the feel of his facial hair scratching against her, and let out a content sigh when Daryl settled for wrapping his arms around her upper body and relaxing his full weight on top of her. Her head turned towards one side ever so slightly so that she could place a kiss on her husband's forehead, and once she had done just that, Beth allowed her eyes to flutter to a close.

The way that Daryl behaved around Beth still surprised her in many, many ways. She had never expected the ruggedly handsome man to behave so affectionately around her, yet here he was. Daryl didn't always say much to Beth - in fact, sometimes he went days with barely saying a word to her (or anyone else) at all - but Beth was becoming better and better at learning about how to read him and understand his thoughts and feelings through his body language.

The thing was, his soft kisses and his lingering looks and his wandering hands tended to speak for themselves.

When it came to Daryl Dixon, Beth was beginning to realise that she didn't _always_ have to read between the lines.

* * *

Beth loved the sea.

It was ever-changing; always different colours depending on the position of the sun and the place that they were sailing over, always changing temperament depending on the weather around them, always reminding Beth - and the others aboard the ship, too - that they weren't really in control of anything at all. The smell of the salty air seemed to be almost cleansing her lungs, and Beth loved how _free_ she felt out here.

However, Beth certainly did not love sea sickness.

"Are you alright, dear?"

Beth let out a groan before she slowly made a move to turn around, her eyelids heavy and her skin much paler than usual. Dale was stood with his hands on his hips, a worried expression on his face as he watched the young woman finish throwing up overboard.

"I'm fine, thank you Dale," Beth said with a sigh before she wiped at her forehead, suddenly feeling quite light headed. "I think that I'll just be happy when we finally arrive."

"You don't like it out here?" Dale asked her, moving so that he was positioned beside her, his forearms resting on the side of the ship as he gazed out towards the open water.

After a few seconds, Beth mimicked his position and followed his line of vision, too, her eyes narrowed slightly due to the bright sunlight that was reflecting from the water and shining slightly into her eyes.

"It's not that I don't like it," Beth tried to explain, although for once, she wasn't sure how to put what she was feeling into words. "It's just that the sickness is starting to dampen my mood."

Dale nodded at that in understanding.

"And things with your sister?" he pressed, turning his head so that he was looking towards her.

Beth visibly swallowed under Dale's gaze but made no move to change her position.

"I haven't seen her."

Dale frowned at her.

"Beth," he said, and at the sound of her name, Beth turned her face in Dale's direction so that she was facing him. "You've been on this ship for almost two weeks."

A long moment of silence passed between them before Beth let out a long, heavy sigh. She averted her gaze from Dale's curious eyes and turned away to look back at some of the men who were walking around the deck.

"I know," she said, her voice low. "I just... Don't know what to say to her, is all. After what happened with Shane, I just..."

Her sentence remained unfinished as she trailed off, completely unsure of what else she was supposed to say. Dale's expression didn't change from a frown, but Beth didn't happen to see that because she continued to face away from the older man. She knew that it might have looked to be rude of her from Dale's point of view - after all, she had spent the majority of the journey locked away in the cabin that Daryl owned. Still, Beth was happy with her own company and the company of her husband.

Besides, if anyone wanted her, they knew where they could find her.

* * *

" _Fuck,_ Beth," Daryl groaned, his eyes squeezing tightly shut.

Beth made a move as if to get off from him, but as she did, her husband's deep blue eyes shot open and he grabbed roughly at her hips in one smooth motion; effectively holding her there, so that she was unable to move from on top of him. The young woman's light blue eyes danced over Daryl's face with curiosity and uncertainty.

"Are you alright?" Beth asked him, their faces so close together that they were nearly touching. "You're not hurt?"

Daryl swore under his breath.

"Hell no," he said to her, shaking his head quickly. "You feel _good._ Too damn good. I -"

His words were cut off by her kiss, and Beth experimentally wiggled her hips slightly to see what it would feel like. This was all new to her - Daryl was sat with his back leaning against the tall headrest of the bed and Beth was straddled over his waist, positioned so that she was sat directly on top of him. Beth had been hesitant to try this at first - after all, it was always Daryl who was in control, never her - but her husband had reassured her with soft whispers and gentle kisses that she would like it.

He was right.

Beth never knew how to react when Daryl swore. It was her natural reaction to assume that something was wrong, as though he had hurt himself somehow, but once the two of them got going Beth was able to tell that he was simply enjoying himself and losing himself in her. Still, Beth was careful as she used her knees to push herself upwards slightly so that she was moving up his length before she moved back once more, effectively sliding down his length.

This time, Daryl wasn't the only one groaning at the sensation, and Beth soon found her own rhythm that was driving the two of them wild. As much as Beth wanted to kiss him, she was enjoying being able to watch his facial expressions as she moved around and changed the pace and angle of her movements every now and then to see what would happen.

After a little while, Beth moved her hands from where they had been resting on Daryl's shoulders so that instead they were placed on the back of the headboard, gripping to the strong wood there tightly. She moved her knees, too, and re-positioned herself so that she was using her feet to manouever her body as opposed to her knees. As she slowly moved down the length of him for the first time from that exact angle, Beth realised that she had most definitely done something right by the way that Daryl's deep eyes went wide and his mouth fell open as he inhaled a deep breath.

Unable to help the little sense of pride that took over her as Beth realised just how much her husband was enjoying this, Beth gripped impossibly tighter to the headboard and used it to help her move up and down the length of him at a much quicker pace than she had previously used. The speed of her movements and the feel of Daryl's thumb brushing against her clit - sometimes with a lot of pressure, sometimes with barely any, other times in small, tight circles - had Beth tumbling over the edge quicker than she anticipated; although she was quite proud of herself when her husband followed her quite soon after, spilling himself deep inside of her with a loud groan.

There was no rush for Beth to remove Daryl from inside of her body and instead, she pressed her sweaty forehead against the crook of his neck and settled comfortably there whilst her ragged breathing calmed down some.

Dale had predicted that they would be arriving on American soil sometime in the next forty eight hours, and although they hadn't spoken about it at all, Beth and Daryl seemed to have come to a (silent) mutual agreement that they would be spending their last few hours on the ship wrapped up in each others arms. The prospect of a new life in a new country was exhausting and daunting for Beth, but with her husband by her side, she had a feeling that she would manage to cope just fine.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading and please review!**


	16. Chapter 16

Once Beth had firmly planter her feet into American soil, a wave of sadness washed over her. The journey to America on Dale's ship had mostly been enjoyable - she had found that she had managed to cope with the sea sickness much better than she had orginially anticipated that she would - and even though she hadn't seen her sister for most of the journey, the company of her husband had kept her happy, entertained and somewhat relaxed. The more time that she spent with the man whom she had recently married, the more Beth realised that she really was falling in love with him.

The bruises and marks that Shane's hands had left on her pale, fragile skin had faded to the point where Beth thought that they probably wouldn't be noticeable to anyone who wasn't familiar with her and so didn't know what had happened to her that night before she embarked on her journey to America, although Beth knew in her heart that she wouldn't truly be satisfied until all of the bruises had completely disappeared from her skin. It was obvious that Daryl felt the same way as she did, too; sometimes peppering her skin with kisses as if attempting to brush the marks away with his lips, other times covering the marks with his large hands and fingers as if he was trying to hide them from both of their vision.

Turning her head over her shoulder, Beth squinted her eyes and held out her hand in an attempt to stop the bright sunshine from dazzling her eyes. The young woman looked straight out towards the open water that she had just sailed across, and although Beth wasn't able to see her home country from across the large expanse of the ocean, just knowing that Ireland was out there - somewhere across that water - struck a strange sense of sadness deep within her that she wasn't exactly familiar with.

A small part of Beth already seemed as though it was pining to go; to rush out back onto the ship and never look back, to return back to the land that she came from and be greeted with the familiar sight of _home._ But Beth squashed those thoughts away and locked them somewhere in the back of her mind as best she could; ignoring the voices that called her to return to the country of her birth.

When she had been Beth Greene, the young woman had never had to think much about being brave.

Now that she was Beth Dixon, it seemed as though she had been given no other choice but to be, and Beth Dixon was _not_ prepared to let anybody down.

* * *

The air smelt different in America.

Her husband had chuckled heartily at that when she had brought it up to him; but Beth had noted that Daryl didn't outright disagree with her about it, either - so maybe it wasn't at all as crazy as it sounded in her head. In all truthfulness, Beth knew that she would be far too embarassed to mention her theory to anyone else except Daryl - not even to her sister.

The carriage that was set to take them on their journey to Georgia reminded her of the carriage that Daryl had owned in Ireland, although it was even grander than that had been (although how that was even possible, Beth wasn't entirely sure). The outside of the carriage was painted with navy blues and bright golds, and the cushions on the chairs inside were of a deep red. Not much time was wasted until Beth found that she was making herself comfortable inside the carriage, listening to Daryl giving his instructions to the driver about where to go and how they weren't to come to a stop unless it was absolutely necessary.

The young woman was still debating over whether the different smell of American air was a good different or a bad different when Daryl broke the comfortable silence that had fallen between them.

"You alright?" her husband asked her, his blue eyes narrowed as he looked straight at her from across the way.

Daryl was leaning one of his shoulders against the side of the carriage door so that his body was positioned diaganolly across the seat; his legs stretched out in front of him and his ankles crossed over each other, the first few buttons of his cream shirt undone due to the sweltering heat that Beth was quickly finding unbearable in the enclosed space that they were sharing, his arms folded across his chest in a lazy manner.

Her husband's body language spoke volumes towards her. Beth knew that Daryl was becoming more and more comfortable around her and Beth was glad for it, too. To her own credit, Beth had managed to adjust to life with Daryl quite easily and thought that she had accepted everything that came along with him with grace and elegance; not once complaining about having to move so far away from home, not once expressing to him how frightened she truly was. Beth knew that a lot of people back home in Ireland had underestimated her, but Daryl was different.

Now that she was a Dixon, Beth didn't just want to be brave - she wanted to be strong, too. Strong and bold and brave and fierce and completely sure of herself. Beth knew that it would be difficult to discard of her old ways, but moving to America was an opportunity to not only change her life, but also to change herself.

At Daryl's words, Beth turned her attention away from the window of the carriage where she had been watching the fields of America pass by and instead focused on her husband, blinking at him several times with a soft smile on her face before she nodded her head twice.

"Yes," Beth answered him, her tone gentle, yet assetive. "I'm okay."

Immediately, Daryl pursed his lips at her answer, although Beth wasn't sure whether he actively knew that he was doing it or whether he was completely oblivious to it. It was apparant that Daryl wasn't quite satisfied or reassured with Beth's answer, but Beth knew her husband well enough by now to know that he wasn't going to say anything more about it, either.

With a barely audible sigh, Beth leaned her body further against her own side of the carriage - somewhat mimicking his own body language - before she spoke again.

"Daryl," she said, never breaking eye contact with him as she spoke his name, her voice soft and slow. "I'm okay. I _promise._ "

For a few more moments, Daryl was still; but after a long, heavy and drawn-out breath of his own, her husband nodded his head at her once before letting his eyes fall to a close as a comfortable silence filled the carriage once again.

* * *

"Like this," Daryl instructed, his hands firmly gripping her hips as Beth placed her palms against the top of the seat of the carriage. The young woman glanced over her shoulder at her husband with furrowed brows, confusion evident on her features.

"Like this?" she repeated, her tone questioning, but as Daryl nodded at her, her features relaxed. Beth turned to face away from her husband once more as he pushed the lilac material of her dress over her waist and allowed it to hang there sloppily before he made a move between her legs, nudging them apart with his knees so that she was spread out wider.

Beth gasped as his fingers began to work on her and she instantly relaxed even further, enjoying in the sensation of him moving against her. It wasn't long before her husband was pushing himself inside of her from behind, the foreign position causing him to hit deeper inside of her than she had ever imagined to be possible. Beth couldn't help but let out a cry each time that he pounded against her, one of his hands gripping firmly at her waist whilst the other was wrapped tightly in her hair.

Beth moaned out her husbands name as he hit against her with abandon. Daryl was usually much more gentle and easy with her, but now he was beginning to grow more and more confident that she wouldn't break underneath his hands. Beth was no expert when it came to anything of a sexual nature, but the young woman was trying her best to make sure that she pleased her husband - and it seemed as though he was doing the same for her, too. There were many things that Beth was far from confident on, but with each new thing that Daryl taught her, she found that she was becoming much more bold when it came to their love making.

It wasn't long until Daryl was spilling himself inside of her, groaning loudly as he did so. Despite the heat, Beth didn't move away from her husband when he pressed her back straight against his chest and spread her legs further again, pushing his hand between them and flicking at her nub before she too came.

* * *

"Where is it that we will live?"

Beth couldn't be exactly sure of just how much time had passed by whilst she had been asleep against the side of the carriage, but she figured that by the foul taste in her mouth and the numbness of one side of her body that it had been a long enough time. The young woman had only jostled herself awake as the smell of warm broth filled the carriage and she was greeted with the sight of her husband smiling somewhat sheepishly at her from across the way, two bowls and some bread in his hands before he offered one towards her.

"In my house," was Daryl's blunt reply before he not-so-elegantly shovelled some bread into his mouth.

In all honesty, Beth couldn't blame his lack of manners - after all, she was probably just as equally as hungry as Daryl was. Had Beth not had table manners and ideas of being a proper lady drilled into her mind from a young age and had she not been wearing such a pretty lilac dress, then she probably would have eaten in a similar manner to Daryl, too.

"And where is that?" Beth asked, raising a brow at him as she began to sip at her broth.

Daryl chewed on his moutful of bread and gulped it down before he answered her.

"Place called Senoia. Prob'ly be there in a couple more hours."

Allowing silence to wash over them for a couple more minutes, Beth focused on eating her broth and filling her stomach. Despite the sticky heat of the air, the warmth of her dinner was pleasant and Beth enjoyed the feeling of being full once again. After they had finished eating, Daryl took the bowl from her hands and exited the carriage, leaving the door open behind him as he walked off somewhere - most likely to dispose of their dishes. Once he returned, Daryl signalled to the driver that they were ready to set off once again, and no sooner had he closed the carriage door behind him were they moving once more.

"Where is it that my sister and her..." Beth paused; not quite knowing the correct term to use to adress Glenn with, not only in regards to Maggie, but also to herself. With Shane, it had been simple and easy: he was her brother-in-law, no doubts or questions or arguments about it. But Glenn was different; he was her sister's lover, and a forbidden one at that, so Beth was unsure of what to call him. In the end, she supposed that simply his name would suffice - at least for now. "Where will my sister and Glenn be staying?"

Daryl shrugged his shoulders then, seeming to be very disinterested.

"Told Glenn tha' so long as he gets straight to work for me - prob'ly workin' on the fields - then he can stay in one o' my properties, an' I jus' won't pay him any money for a wage. Alls he'll have to do is find a way to pay for food an' basic shit, an' I reckon' he'll be fine."

Beth nodded at that, thinking to herself that it had been kind of Daryl to offer such a generous proposition to Glenn and her sister. After all, he had already done so much to help them both - it wasn't as though he would be expected to do anything more for them, even if Maggie was technically his sister-in-law.

"And that means my sister will have to work?" Beth asked, and Daryl simply nodded his head at that. Beth furrowed her brows together and swallowed before asking her next question. "Will... Will I have to work?"

It wasn't as though Beth was a work-shy woman, because the truth was that she wasn't. Although she had never had to work before, she'd had chores of her own to do when she was younger, and as she grew older - and especially once Maggie had married Mister Walsh and had moved away - Beth had been given no choice but to become more involved with running the house for her father. Hershel's constant drunken state meant that he was in absolutely no fit state to look over what was going on with his staff and his house, and Beth was already beginning to worry about how her father was coping without her presence in the Greene household.

The young woman thanked the Lord for the fact that Patricia and Otis were there to help support her father, and she knew that she could trust them and rely on them not only to look after the house, but also to look after Hershel, too. Still, Beth understood the fact that Patricia and Otis wouldn't be alive or around forever and that there was only so much that they could do for a man who simply did not seem to want to help himself.

The way that her husband was staring at her from across the way made Beth inadvertedly shiver; the intensity of his gaze giving her no other option but to squirm uncomfortably as she waited for a reply, unable to help but wonder what it was that was going through Daryl's mind as he stared at her. The young woman didn't even realise that she was holding her breath until her throat began to burn, and finally Daryl spoke to silence with a gruff remark.

"Over my dead body."

Not sure what else to say to him, Beth nodded her head several times, letting out a shaky breath as she processed his words. Although Beth knew that there probably wasn't much for her to do, she would have still done anything that was required of her - especially if it was her husband who asked her to do it. Soon, the only thing that filled the space of the carriage was silence as Daryl closed his eyes and rested his head against the side of the door, and although Beth still had plenty more questions that she wanted to ask her husband about what was going to happen when they reached his home - _their_ home - she thought that for now, it was probably best if she kept herself quiet until they arrived.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading and please review!**


	17. Chapter 17

It probably shouldn't have been so much of a surprise to Beth that her husband's home in Georgia - which was, technically, now her home, too - was the biggest house that she had ever laid her fair blue eyes upon.

The large house had been painted so that it was all white, and it had a large paved pathway that led all the way up to it. Land surrounded the entire property, seeming to stretch on in all directions for an endless amount of miles. It was more than evident to Beth that the grounds of the home were incredibly well taken care of, and upon looking at it all and realising how much effort it must take to keep the entire home intact, Beth couldn't help but be curious about the amount of people who were employed under Daryl with the task of caring for his - now _their_ \- home.

Plenty of steps led up to the large house - not just small, simple steps like the ones that her father had set down outside of his farmhouse, but _big_ steps that Beth thought that she would probably have some difficulty getting up and down because they were that high - and the house itself stood at a good three stories tall. From what Beth could tell, there was a large porch area at the front of the house and two big beams that stood on either side of the door.

The young woman was very much in a state of awe as she stared at the approaching house from the window of the carriage, her hand holding back the heavy crimson curtain that had been drawn earlier in their travels so that she could get a better view of her new home. Beth's mouth was hanging open slightly as her eyes fixed on the house, and from behind her, Beth heard her husband rumble out a chuckle. The young bride didn't even flinch or jump at the sound as it invaded the small space of the carriage; and instead, Beth's eyes reamined locked and focused onto the house that their carriage was reaching faster and faster.

As far as Beth was aware, her sister and Glenn were riding in the carriage behind them still, and Beth thought that Daryl would have informed her if Maggie's carriage would have had to take another route to reach her own home. Although Beth was definitely intereted in where abouts it was that her sister would be staying now that they lived in America, Beth seemed unable to find it within her to move her mouth enough so that she could speak and actually ask her husband where it was that Maggie and Glenn would be living.

Previously during their journey, her husband had mentioned to her that he would be putting up Glenn and Maggie in a house that he owned and that Glenn would be working for Daryl in order to earn their keep, so Maggie would have to go and find herself a job in order to help pay for other things that the couple would need. Although Beth knew in her heart that her sister probably wouldn't be all too happy about having to work instead of staying at home like her younger sister was doing, the young woman thought to herself that Maggie living here and having to work was a much better fate for her than living with Shane Walsh in Ireland where she would never have to work a day in her life, but where she would probably end up beaten to death before she turned thirty years old.

Instead of voicing all of her thoughts to her husband, who seemed to be very amused at her initial reaction to the grand house, Beth remained silent; her light blue eyes all wide and her rose coloured lips still parted as she stared up at the house that she would now be calling her home.

* * *

"What do you think?"

The carriage that the couple had been riding in had come to a halt outside of the home, and Daryl had leaned forward slightly so that he too could glance out of the window along with his wife. One of his large hands came to rest on the small of her back as his body moved closer to hers, and Beth found herself finally being able to tear her eyes away from the house long enough so that she could turn her head towards his and face him properly.

Her husband's face was much closer to her own than she had initially anticipated, but Beth's bright smile didn't falter as her eyes roamed over his face. Instead, natural instinct took over her body and before Daryl could utter another word, Beth leaned in towards him and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips. Surprise was evident over Daryl's features, and when Beth pulled back from him, she let out a little giggle before she returned her attention back to her new home.

"It's the most beautiful house that I've ever seen," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"It's yours," Daryl murmured, his lips resting directly next to her ear, causing her to whole body to shudder involuntarily.

* * *

It dawned upon Beth when she first walked into the house and was greeted by some of Daryl's employees that this house and it's workers would take her quite some time to get used to.

Daryl offered to take her on a tour of the house the next day, but it seemed apparant to him that his wife would probably be just as hungry as he was since they hadn't bothered to stop off much for food on their travels, opting instead to try and arrive at the house as quickly as they possibly could. Although the pair of them had napped in the carriage, it had hardly been comfortable for them both, and Beth was more than eager to fill up her stomach with food and then go and get herself settled in bed, ready for the day that would be waiting for them tomorrow.

The accents of the people here were strange, to say the least, but Beth supposed that she must have sounded as equally strange to them all - if not more so, considering some of them seemed to have quite some difficulty understanding what it was that she was saying, to the point where Daryl ended up taking the role of translator. At the knowledge that these people didn't seem able to communicate well with her, Beth felt incredibly disheartened, but her husband had reached his hand out over the dining table that they were sat at and had wrapped it around hers before giving it a quick squeeze, non-verbally offering her his reassurance.

No matter how uncertain she felt about all of this, Beth was glad that she would at least have Daryl around to motivate her.

"How long has it been since you've been here?" Beth asked her husband over dinner, and Daryl just shrugged his shoulders at her as he scooped some more food into his mouth. After swallowing it down, his eyes jumped up to meet with hers as he offered her an answer.

"Few months," he said, picking at some more meat with his fork. "Prob'ly 'round half a year or so, now, actually."

Beth nodded her head before placing some food into her own mouth, chewing on it much more delicately than Daryl bothered to.

It was apparant that her husband could have manners when he wanted to - after all, she had seen the difference in him whenever they ate around other people, like her father. When the three of them had sat down for dinner that first time, Daryl had seemed so much different - but it was obvious to her now that at that time, her husband was all stiff and unsure, making an impression around people who he didn't know and wasn't comfortable around.

Now, though, Daryl was much more at ease around Beth; and although his sloppy table manners didn't necessarily make her happy, she was pleased to know that her husband felt comfortable enough around her to act more like himself and actually relax.

"I was just wondering," Beth said after she had swallowed down a mouthful of food. "Will you be leaving me here? Whilst you venture out for those long periods of time?"

The look that Daryl offered her from across the way made her almost feel nervous. Even though the two of them had been married for quite a few weeks now, it didn't mean that the younger woman was at all used to his intense gazes and long looks. There were times when Beth was completely taken aback by the look in his eyes, and this seemed to be another one of those times.

"Ain't gonna be leavin' you, girl," Daryl said, his voice hushed and low, but Beth still heard him all the same.

Her light eyes fell to her plate as her cheeks blushed pink, but the sound of Daryl murmuring her name from across the table had her looking up at him once again.

"I mean it," he told her, his tone full of certainty and confidence. "I _ain't_ gonna be leavin'. Not this house, not _you._ "

* * *

As much as Beth wanted to be shown around her new home as soon as possible, her whole body was quickly being taken over by her exhausted state, and the young blonde found herself not even caring much at all for the dessert that had been placed in front of her and her husband and instead longed to be lay down in an actual bed - not one that swayed as the ship moved, and not an uncomfortable hard chair that jolted every time the carriage moved over a bump in the road, but an actual, real-life _bed._

The young woman tried her best not to make it too obvious to her husband about just how tired she really was, but Daryl was more than perceptive - especially when it came to her - and seemed to notice almost all too easily that she was stifling her yawns and fighting a losing battle to keep her eyes from drooping to a close.

Without much more than a gruff "c'mon," Daryl kicked back his chair and stood up, leaving the half-eaten plate of his dessert on the table for one of the worker's to clean up. Beth blinked several times as he began to stroll off in the direction of the door that led out of the dining room, and it was only when he turned his head over his shoulder and cocked an eyebrow at her expectantly that she mimicked his movements, trying her best not to stumble over her feet as she made her way to her husband's side. With a half-smile at her, Daryl took her arm and led her to the door, not wasting another moment to take his wife upstairs to bed.

* * *

 **Sorry if this chapter seems a little bit short and if there are any spelling mistakes... I've been meaning to update this but I've been suffering terrbily from writer's block with it and have been focusing on my other story, 'Clean' (if you've not read it, then go and check it out!) Tumblr has also proven to be a big distraction for me (I've just joined - my url is the same as my username, xmjcx if you fancy giving me a follow!) and I've been putting this off for probably too long. Like I said, I know it's short, but I just wanted to get something out to you all - especially because brady66 has been absolutely kicking me up my arse for this chapter! Hahaha.**

 **Thanks always for all of your support and I've actually already started writing the next chapter for this! I'm hoping it will be quite a bit longer than this one, and I might come back and edit this in a few days and give it a bit more substance. If I do, then I'll let you know in my next A/N. xx**


	18. Chapter 18

**I am really sorry that this has taken so long for me to update. It turns out that my other Bethyl fic, 'Clean', is kind of addictive to write, but it took me little over one hour to write this chapter (sorry if there's any spelling mistakes etc as I've not even re-read it, I've literally written it and put it on here) and it's honestly made me fall in love with this story all over again.**

 **Expect more frequent updates from here on out.**

* * *

Life in Georgia, America, was much different to the life that Beth had known back when she was Beth Greene, living back at her father's home in Ireland.

At the moment, that one little word was having the biggest pull on her mind: _home._ Every time that word came into her head or fell from her lips, a mental image of her daddy's farmhouse in Ireland appeared to her. But now that she thought about it - genuinely weighed up what the word meant and where it would be for her - Beth realised that this house was her home. _Daryl's_ house was her home now, and would be until the day that she died - or at least until the day that the pair of them moved on to somewhere else.

This grand house with its tall walls and its marble floors and its fancy furniture.

This white house with her husbands name written in gold lettering above the door - where her own name would soon be added, too - and its large amount of employees and its huge expanse of land.

"You like it here?" Daryl had asked her several nights after they had settled themselves properly into the house, both of their belongings having been put away and organised beautifully by some of the housekeepers. Beth had been quite surprised to learn that her 'wardrobe' was a whole room and that as well as shipping out her things from Ireland, Daryl had also had some of his workers stock up on dresses and shoes and undergarments for his wife.

Beth had nodded her head yes as she looked up at her husband from where she was positioned beside him at the large dinner table. The grey haired woman who seemed to be in charge of all of the other workers - Carol, Beth remembered her to be called - had hinted to the younger woman on several occasions now that it would be much more _"proper"_ of her to sit across the table from her husband as opposed to sitting beside him; but Beth thought that the wooden surface of the table just seemed to be far too long, and if she was honest with herself, there was a big part of her that really just didn't want to have to sit so far away from Daryl.

It was a strange feeling indeed, but Beth really was beginning to think that she was completely addicted to this man that she called her husband.

"It's nice," Beth said to him, her light blue eyes scanning over the expanse of the dining room. After a few seconds, she locked eyes with her husband; taking in the knowing smirk that hung lazily on his lips and the barely-there glint that danced in his deep blue eyes. "What?" she asked him then, laughter evident in her voice, her own lips turning up in a smile despite the fact that she was trying her best to fight it.

In response to her question, Daryl just pursed his lips and shook his head from side to side, causing his shaggy brown hair to fall slightly in his eyes as he did so. "Nothin'," Daryl said back to her, but Beth just raised one of her light brows at him in response. At her small movement, her husband cleared his throat and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before he looked over at her again. "Merle's gonna be comin' up soon."

 _Ah._

"Your brother?" Beth asked, blinking at him as she asked him the question that she really didn't need him to ask. Beth _knew_ that Merle was Daryl's older brother - of course, she didn't know much about him at all (apparantly, her husband wasn't one for sharing all too many stories about his past and his family history), but she knew enough to know that he was a lot different than his younger brother.

Despite the fact that Daryl knew that Beth already knew that too, he answered her anyway. "Yeah," he said to her, nodding his head. And he was quiet for a moment or two before he smirked again. "He's excited to meet you."

And although Beth didn't know her brother in law at all, Beth couldn't help herself but to let out a small, light-hearted laugh when she noticed the expression on Daryl's face when he said those words to her, anyway. Her husband chuckled from where he sat beside her as well, shaking his head back and forth as he reached out his hand towards his cup and took a large gulp of his drink.

As a whole, Beth preferred to just drink water; and she tried her best to pay attention, but she couldn't for the life of her remember what it was that her husband liked to drink now that they were in Georgia. It was some sort of juice, she was sure of it - one that was made from fruits that grew here; perhaps organges or apples or peaches.

Whatever it was that filled Daryl's cup was never wine, though.

Not that Beth would have ever mentioned anything to her husband if he had decided that he wanted to drink wine, but just like everything else with it came to her, Daryl just seemed to _know._ And although Beth could not be completely sure on whether or not Daryl used to gulp down cups of wine before he moved back to this house with her beside him, the young blonde had definitely not missed the confused - and even slightly concerned - look that Carol had given him when he had snapped at the older woman for just attempting to pour some wine into his cup on one of their first meals in the house.

That had been just an hour or two before Daryl had ordered for all of the wine that was stocked in the cupboards of the house to be removed from the premises.

 _"Where is it you would you like the bottles to go, Sir?"_ one of the workers had stuttered out to him, and Daryl had thrown his hands into the air in annoyance at the question.

 _"Just **out** ," _Daryl had ordered, his deep voice booming across the hallway, loud enough to cause even Beth to flinch from where she had been stood beside him.

After that incident, none of the workers had ever offered either of them any wine again.

* * *

The relationship that Beth had with her sister seemed to be rotting away with each passing hour, and as much as Beth felt as though she had tried her best to rescue it from sinking several times, it seemed as though Maggie wasn't even close to being anywhere near as enthusiastic about saving this ship as Beth was. In the end, it felt as though Maggie actually _wanted_ the friendship that Beth had thought that they had to dissolve into thin air, and as optimistic as the younger of the two women was, Beth knew that she couldn't help Maggie if Maggie didn't want to help herself.

The two women had not even been living in America for two months, and Maggie and Glenn only lived on a property that was about a fifteen to twenty minute walk away from the house that Beth lived in with her own husband, but Maggie Greene was already making it incredibly difficult for the two women to meet with each other.

Technically, she was Maggie Walsh - after all, she had been married to Shane, and as far as they all were concerned, the older man could still be alive back in Ireland. There wasn't any evidence to suggest that Daryl had killed him when he had violently beaten him, and even if her husband would have murdered the other man, Beth knew that she wasn't being sick when she thought that Shane deserved it.

The older of the two sisters seemed to be enjoying the fact that she could remind the younger of the two of them that she was now too busy playing _"house"_ with her new husband - which Beth thought was most definitely not true - whilst Maggie and Glenn were struggling to find a balance between their working life and their relationship. There had been several times when Beth had been forced to return back to her house without even having a real conversation with her sister because Maggie wouldn't even invite her inside, never mind actually speak to her, and the routine was beginning to become tiresome to say the least.

Beth made sure that none of the issues that she was having with Maggie were ever brought up to her husband, though - at least as far as she could help it, anyway. The blonde knew far too well that it most definitely was not her place to complain to Daryl about her older sister's poor behaviour when he had gone to so much trouble to try and make sure that Maggie and Glenn could join them on their journey from Ireland to America and he had then gone out of his way to ensure that they had somewhere to board whilst they were living in the new country.

It was almost immediately after both couples had moved themselves into their new homes that Daryl had organised for Glenn to work alongside some of his other employees on the fields. Although it wasn't necessarily the most honourable job for Maggie's lover to be working, Daryl had told Beth that some of the best men that he knew worked on those fields, and her husband knew that Glenn would get along with those men much better than any of the ones who worked in the kitchen or who kept an eye on the grounds. Of course, Beth's curiosity had peaked at that, and she couldn't help but want to know who worked where and why some people might be more difficult to get along with than others, but Beth wasn't going to start questioning her husband's judgement now.

Although nobody had informed Beth of where it was that her sister was working or exactly what it was that her sister was actually doing, Beth had a feeling that Maggie had been told to join forces with the rest of the many women who worked incredibly hard at making sure that the house that Beth and Daryl lived in was kept clean and tidy and neat. That was actually a job that Beth had specifically requested for Carol _not_ to designate to her sister as the younger of the two women had been worried that Maggie cleaning the house might make things between the two siblings even more sour than they already were.

It seemed as though Carol had not taken any notice of her request, though, and Beth had a feeling that the older woman's ignorance had most definitely caused there to be more of a rift between herself and Maggie than she had ever imagined.

.

.

.

The argument that occured between Beth and Maggie happened only one week later.

If the younger of the two sisters was to be honest with herself, then she would have to admit that she really didn't remember much of what had been said between the two of them as they fought in the middle of the entrance hallway of the house. It turned out that Maggie was indeed working as a maid, and it turned out that she was most definitely humiliated by that role, but Beth had tried her best to explain that she didn't want this life for her sister. Still, though Maggie had not wanted to listen to a word that Beth had to say about the matter, and talking quickly turned into shouting and then shouting quickly turned into screaming.

And people were watching them, too - other workers that Beth knew really shouldn't be watching this exchange, but she was so caught up in the heat of the moment that she didn't even think to walk away or to remind the other women who stood around staring that they should be getting on with their own jobs.

 _"You would have let him kill me!"_ Beth screeched at the top of her lungs, the echo of her words bouncing around the tall walls, and it had been those words that had eventually silenced her sister (difficult as that task was).

Maggie had looked at Beth with an expression so horrified that anybody else would have thought that the tiny blonde would have just smacked her sister across the face - which, honestly, Beth thought that her sister probably deserved. Out of everybody who could have interrupted them, it had been Sophia who had been brave enough to take a few steps forward. Sophia was Carol's teenage daughter - aged just a few years younger than Beth was - and the girl had tugged on Beth's arm, gently suggesting to the lady of the house that they go for a walk outside so that Beth could get herself some fresh air.

And Beth hadn't even realised that she had been crying, but she ignored the hot and silent tears that streamed down her face still; instead choosing to stare at her sister even as she nodded her head in acceptance of the young girl's suggestion. Her light blue eyes never left where they were burning straight through Maggie's own green ones, even as Sophia intertwined their fingers and led the way out into the gardens of the house. Beth just continued to stare at her older sister, her heart thundering on loudly inside of her chest as she attempted to communicate everything that she was feeling in the hopes that Maggie would be able to practically read her thoughts from the non-verbal action the same way that Beth had taught herself to read Daryl's.

If the look that came upon her older sister's face had been anything at all to go by, then Beth would have definitely said that it seemed as though the action itself had worked. Perhaps now Maggie would understand that their relationship really had sank; and the wreckage that it left behind was unsalvageable and destructive.

As far as Beth was concerned, it would be pointless even trying to fix this mess that had been created between the pair of them.

.

.

.

"I apologise," Beth murmured against Daryl's lips, her eyes opening from where she had squeezed them tightly to a shut. "I really, really am sorry for behaving that way in front of the other ladies. I know that -"

Her husband's chapped lips were pressing against her own before she could even continue on with her attempt of an explanation, and Beth whimpered in surprise at the urgency of Daryl's kiss before she allowed herself to melt properly into his arms. Their tongues clashed when Beth opened her mouth to his, and it wasn't much later that Daryl's big hands were tugging at the ties of her dress. Her own were then joining his in an attempt to assist him in his mission of ridding her of her clothes, and she was tugging down on her heavy skirts from where they clung tightly at her hips whilst Daryl busied himself with removing her corset.

Once Beth was finally stood naked before him, Daryl chose to break their kiss quite abruptly, his heated gaze trailing over her slender body before he bent his head down to her neck. After placing several open-mouthed kisses along the column of her throat, Daryl's hands slid down her stomach as he moved to crouch down before her, wasting no time in turning his attention to the inside of one of her thighs.

Instinct took over her body and Beth's legs naturally parted a little bit more for him, the young woman enjoying the feel of her husband's stubble brushing against the smooth skin of her legs as he nipped at her playfully. Beth's reaction was to let out a little gasp and then to shudder, knowing that Daryl was enjoying the feel of her legs trembling beneath his mouth.

"You are so strong," Daryl murmured against her leg, sucking gently on the sensitive skin there, smirking to himself when his actions elicited a long moan from his wife. Daryl's fingernails skimmed the expanse of soft skin that rested at the back of Beth's thighs as he slowly but surely trailed his way up to her bottom, gripping firmly at the toned flesh there before he looked up at his wife, his deep blue eyes meeting with her own lighter ones as she stared back down at him.

The sight of her husband perched so intimately before her had Beth feeling completely overcome with her desire for him, and the blonde thought that she might turn into a puddle on the floor when Daryl licked his lips.

"Don't ever apologise for that," he told her, and no sooner had Beth nodded her head at his statement did Daryl press his lips firmly against her clit, causing the young woman to let out a shriek in both surprise and pleasure.

It didn't take long at all for Beth's young body to shudder violently with the intensity of her orgasm, but her husband didn't cease in his motions of licking, kissing and sucking at her until he was absolutely certain that his wife had came all over his lips at least twice more.

* * *

"Would I be able to speak with you for just a moment, ma'am?"

At the sound of the familiar voice, Beth turned her head over her shoulder from where she had been crouched beside her recently drawn bath; her pale elbow still dipped into the water as she tested the temperature of it. At the moment, it was still scolding hot - far too warm for her to sink into just yet, although it felt as though she had been waiting for it to cool down for hours by now.

"Of course," Beth said to Carol, nodding her head as she pushed herself so that that she was standing upright, shaking her arm over the bath so that droplets of water fell from her flesh and back into the tub.

Although her husband had been the only man who had ever seen Beth's womanly form in all of its glory, there had been plenty of occasions where female employees - both of the past and the present - had seen Beth in a state of undress before (Carol being one of them) and it didn't bother the young woman much at all anymore. She had been shy at first, of course, but Daryl had taught her to love her body more, and it was something that she was definitely beginning to apply to her daily life.

Carol glanced behind her shoulder as though she expected for someone else to be in the vacinity as she closed the door that led into the bedroom that Beth shared with her husband before she took a few more steps in Beth's direction, her eyes roaming around the room and observing everything inside of it as though she had never been in here before.

"Can I help you at all?" Beth asked Carol, her wide eyes narrowing ever so slightly as the older woman shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

For what seemed like no reason at all, Beth couldn't help but find Carol's cool and calm demeanor irritating.

"Forgive me for seeming to... intrude, ma'am," Carol began, her cold blue eyes darting from where they had been observing one of the paintings on the wall so that she was now looking straight at Beth. "It's just that you have been living in this house with us for little over eight weeks now..."

As the older woman trailed off, Beth just nodded her head, unsure of where it was exactly that Carol was trying to take this conversation. Although Carol was usually always around the house somewhere with someone, it was rare that she ever bothered to try and attempt to engage in conversation with Beth about anything at all. Instead, Carol seemed to much prefer the company of Beth's husband, and although it wasn't as though Beth necessarily disliked Carol, the younger woman had decided that she definitely wasn't all that fond of the grey haired woman, either - at least, not in the way in which she had been so fond of Patricia, anyway.

Sad as it might seem or sound, there just wasn't any sort of relationship between the two women at all, and Beth was surprised if Carol even ever asked her if she had any sort of preference on the colour of flowers that they would be placing around the house that week, never mind for her to actually approach her in the way that she had done now.

"It's just that... Well. I can't help but notice that in all of this time, you haven't bled at all, ma'am."

It was quiet between them for a moment before Beth finally spoke.

"Bled?" the young woman repeated the word, her voice shaking slightly as it dawned upon her exactly what it was that Carol was trying to suggest to her now.

The grey haired woman only nodded her head. "Yes, ma'am - _bled_. You haven't bled. At all."

It was just more silence that passed between the two women for a good minute or two longer; Beth staring at the door of the room whilst Carol stared straight at her, uncertainty evident across her features as she watched Beth think everything over in her mind. "I don't mean to frighten you at all, Mrs Dixon," Carol said after clearing her throat, and Beth's eyes shot to meet with Carol's at the mention of her surname. "It's just that I think it might be beneficial for you to meet with a doctor."

Although Beth was surprised - stunned, even - as she thought it all through, she couldn't help but nod her head in confirmation of Carol's request.

As nervous as she was, Beth knew that an examination by a doctor was exactly what she needed right now.

"Of course," the young blonde somehow managed to stutter out, blinking over at Carol one more time before she returned her attention back to the warm water of her bath as she ran a hand through her long hair. "Of course. Do you mind -"

"I'll contact a doctor straight away, ma'am," Carol interrupted, answering Beth's question before she had even asked it.

Not knowing what else to do, the young woman visibly swallowed before she nodded her head in thanks, watching as Carol turned around and left the room before she sank her body down into the warm water of the bath, watching as some of it poured over the side and onto the floor as she settled herself in.

There was no real way of Beth being able to know whether or not she was pregnant before she was seen to by a medical professional, but the fact that she had missed two periods was a good enough indicator that she was probably was all the same. Before Beth could even consciously realise what she was doing, both of her hands shakily came to rest on top of her stomach, her thumbs trembling slightly as they trailed over the skin there as she thought about what all of this could mean.

And even though she hadn't thought a thing of it until Carol had brought it up to her, Beth knew now as she rubbed her hands over her flat stomach that she was most definitely pregnant.

The thought of carrying Daryl's child both scared her and thrilled her, but as she relaxed her body further into the warm water of the bath, Beth allowed her eyes to drift to a close before a small smile spread across her face.


	19. Chapter 19

The doctor who had been arranged to come round to examine her informed Beth that she should just call him by his nickname, "Dr S". Initially, his request had caused the young woman to narrow her light blue eyes in his direction (mostly from confusion, but slightly in suspicion, too) as she tried her hardest to work out just as much as she possibly could about the doctor's personality. Still, Beth called him by his requested name nonetheless, not bothering to verbally question him about why he preferred to be called that or even worry herself too much by thinking about it - after all, she was carrying a lot on her mind at the moment, and what the doctor chose to call himself was definitely nowhere near the top of her priorities.

The lady of the house had not requested for Carol to arrange the appointment with the mysterious doctor when her husband was busy working. Actually, Beth had kept herself completely silent regarding the matter as she didn't want to make her private affairs with her husband well-known amongst even just one of his workers, and so she waited for Carol to arrange the appointment by herself. As she waited, she hoped secretly that the older woman would manage to slot her in at a time when Daryl was working or when he was busy, and thankfully, it seemed as though Carol had been able to read her mind.

Well that, or Beth had simply struck pot luck when it came to when Carol arranged to make the appointment for.

On the day that the doctor was arriving, Daryl had already arranged to meet with a possibly new tennant who was interested in renting one of his biggest and most expensive properties, meaning that her husband had left their home in the early hours of the morning and then wouldn't be returning until sometime around supper. Although Beth tried her best not to show it to anyone (not even Carol), the young blonde felt incredibly relieved when she realised that this would work out exactly as she had hoped that it would.

Despite the fact that Beth was confident that her husband would make an excellent father to their children, the man seemed incredibly skittish whenever she brought up the topic of offspring; and now that she thought on about it, Beth realised that neither of them had ever really addressed the topic of children at all in the months that they had been married.

As a wife, Beth had simply taken the idea of having children on the chin and had accepted a long time ago that once she was married, it was something that she would just have to do. The young woman knew that it was her duty to her husband to bear his children, and as far as she had been taught from a very young age, birthing healthy babies was one of the most important tasks that a wife could partake in, and being a good mother and raising her children well was all part of the package of that, too.

If Beth wanted to be a _good_ wife to Dary, then she knew that she would have to do much more than just birth her babies - she would have to raise them better than anybody else could possibly do, despite the fact that she knew it wasn't necessarily conventional for the lady of the house to care for her own children constantly. Although Beth absolutely adored children and didn't think that caring for any would come as something that wasn't natural to her (especially not when they were her own flesh and blood), she also wasn't naive enough to believe even for a moment that raising a child - never mind several - was at all easy or simple.

Deep in her heart, Beth knew that Daryl would be an amazing father to all of his children; but as far as she was aware, the older man didn't have much experience around young children at all, never mind babies, and so Beth could understand why he might be a little nervous about the whole situation. Whilst Beth was confident that the news of her being with child would definitely not scare him enough to run away from her, she thought that it would most definitely still come as a surprise to her husband and the news itself would take some time for him to process and properly get to grips with before he accepted it.

Still, a small part of Beth also didn't want to say something to her husband about the fact that she could possibly be pregnant as she didn't want to give the two of them together a glimmer of hope over something that could really just be nothing at all. At the end of the day, Beth could easily start to bleed once again tomorrow or the next day or the next day, and she wouldn't know for sure whether she was pregnant or not until the doctor had performed an internal exmaination of her cervix and had taken her temperature in order to help him give her his professional opinion about it.

And even then, if what the doctor told her was in favour of her being pregnant, the young woman had heard plenty of stories back when she was on Irish soil about women who had ben so sure that they were carrying a child for months before they came to realise the fact that they were actually not. Now that she had been given some hope about the possibility of having a child of her own, Beth knew that she would be absolutely crushed if she found out that it was in fact all just a big mistake and a misunderstanding on her part. And then Beth knew that she would feel even worse if Daryl was to be crushed in a similar fashion to her, because she knew that even if he would be a little apprehensive about her pregnancy, he would still love his child with everything that he had.

So for now, Beth decided to hold her tongue.

* * *

"Dr S" was friendly enough, but like the workers who had met her in the first few days - and even weeks - of Beth's arrival to America, the doctor struggled to understand most of what it was that she was trying to say to him. The difficulty that she had in communicating with the older man quickly became frustrating for Beth (which was quite surprising for her as she tended to think of herself as being a very patient and understanding person) and she busied herself for a few minutes as he gathered his tools together by weighing up just how embarrassing it would be if she got up now and sent for Carol to come into the room so that the older woman could come and speak for her to the doctor so that she didn't have to continue repeating every sentence that she said three times over until he understood.

Instead of doing that, though, Beth found herself just strongly resisting the urge to roll her eyes each time that the doctor asked her (in a polite manner, thankfully) to repeat what it was that she had just said. Soon enough, the young woman was practically biting down on her own tongue with enough force to cause it to bleed for a few seconds each time that Dr S said something else that irritated her, just so that she could prevent herself from snapping at him in pure annoyance.

Once the internal examination was finished - which wasn't necessarily painful, but it was slightly uncomfortable, and was most definitely awkward and all sorts of embarrassing for her - the doctor began to pack his tools away in silence, not bothering to make any eye contact with her as he did so. For a short while, Beth immediately went into panic mode and assumed the worst, but once Dr S had closed up his bag, he turned to face her and offered her a bright, happy smile. Before he even said a word Beth's shoulders had sagged with relief and then the young woman was smiling herself, all of the negative thoughts that she had had about the doctor before suddenly passing away.

When Dr S confirmed to her that as far as he was concerned, she was indeed pregnant, Beth's hands shakily came up to cover her mouth as she let out a shaky giggle. Despite the fact that the young woman was trying her hardest to compose herself so that she didn't cry at the news, tears sprang to her light eyes, and her heart began to hammer furiously against her chest in excitement. The lady of the house was overcome with such joy and pure happiness at the news of her pregnancy, and now that the doctor had confirmed what she already knew all along, Beth didn't want to wait another second to share this happy information with her husband.

All of this time that the two of them had been married, Beth had never really had the opportunity to give birthing children much thought at all - what, with the rushed manner in which her father had married her to Daryl, and then with everything that had happened to her sister, and then even more with their move to America... Perhaps it had been silly of her, considering the amount of times that she and Daryl shared a bed together, but she had just never thought too much on the consequences of their love making. Prior to the appointment, Beth had discussed this topic with Carol and had shared the same information with the older woman, feeling slightly sheepish and a little embarrassed about the truth of the matter.

Thankfully though, Carol seemed to understand, and despite the cold way in which the older woman had treated her over these past few weeks, the news of Beth's pregnancy seemed to warm her attitude up. Although no worker would ever be able to replace the hole that Patricia had left when she had stayed behind in Ireland with Hershel, Carol was quickly becoming her go-to woman for advice, and Beth was starting to think that the two of them might actually be able to spark up something similar to a friendship.

As they had discussed the matter together, Carol had taken the time to explain to Beth some of the things that her father had never bothered to. She told the young blonde all about how her being quite young meant that she was therefore very fertile, so her falling pregnant was really just a matter of when. Carol had actually expressed her surprise to Beth when the yong women mentioned that she thought that she wouldn't fall pregnant so soon into her marriage, and she quickly cleared up all of Beth's questions about the way in which this worked.

Telling Carol about the news of her pregnancy was completely unavoidable - after all, the older woman had been waiting directly outside of the door of the room that the appointment had been arranged inside of. Similar to the way in which Beth hadn't needed any verbal confirmation from the doctor about her pregnancy, Carol seemed to similarly just know by the happy expression on Beth's face when she re-entered the room once Dr S had left that she was indeed pregnant.

In a move which surprised Beth more than anything else that day, the older woman came up to stand in front of the lady of the house and wrapped her skinny arms around Beth's shoulders, giving her upper body a tight squeeze before she pulled back and then placed a kiss on her rosy cheeks. "Congratulations" _,_ Carol said, a seemingly genuine smile on the worker's face - one that actually touched her piercing eyes - and then she stepped back, keeping a firm grip on Beth's shoulders as she did so.

"Your husband will be _thrilled,_ " Carol said, although Beth wasn't sure whether the older woman actually believed that or whether she was just trying to comfort her.

Beth offered Carol a small smile. "I hope so," she said with a nod of her head, hoping that it wouldn't be too obvious that she was just as nervous as she was excited about sharing this news with her husband.

If she thought anything strange of what the younger woman said, Carol didn't give herself away, instead just offering Beth's shoulder another squeeze before she turned around and started walking towards the door, talking mostly to herself about how she would go and check that lunch was almost prepared. The younger woman stood firmly rooted to the spot as she blinked after Carol, watching as she disappeared out of the room and finally out of sight as she walked down the corridor, the small heels of her shoes clicking loudly against the wooden floor.

With a sigh, Beth pushed some hair from her face and shortly followed after the older woman as she made her way over towards the kitchen. The beating of her heart wasn't anywhere near as violent as it had been before, but the young woman's mind was still buzzing as she sat down by herself at the huge dining table and ate her dinner.

At the start of the day, the lady of the house had been relieved that her husband was distracted for the day, but it was now more than ever as she sat by herself at the long table - feeling incredibly small and incredibly lonely - that Beth just wished that Daryl was back home.

* * *

It was quite late when Daryl finally returned home - much later than Beth had been expecting him to return, anyway - and the blonde was already wrapped up in the rich sheets of their large bed when he eventually made his way into their bedroom. Although she had been trying to drift off, Beth had found it practically impossible to sleep without him by her side, and she immediately pushed herself up on her elbows so that she could see who it was who had entered the room when the bedroom door had creaked open.

The first thing that she noticed was that her husband looked tired and very worn out; but as always, Daryl still offered her a smile - small as it was, a smile was a smile - and then he shut the door behind him, keeping one of his hands pressed against the wooden surface of it in order to steady himself as he toed off his heavy boots. Completely comfortable around him, Beth didn't even try to appear as though she wasn't watching him even as he began to undress himself, apparantly choosing to sleep only in his undergarments.

The heat that Georgia possessed could be more than just unbearable at times, but it didn't ever seem to effect Daryl half as much as it bothered Beth - still, the young woman was strong and adaptable, and she was slowly but surely beginning to adjust to the temperature here. Despite all of that, she was still Irish through and through, and even though it was stiflingly hot outside (even at this time of night) and even though the air in their bedroom was still quite warm, Beth had chosen to sleep in her nightdress and had buried herself underneath the sheets.

He must have been used to it by now, though, because Daryl didn't even bat an eyelid at her attire as he wasted no time in joining her in their bed; throwing the covers back without warning and crawling in beside her, immediately pulling her into his strong arms. Her back pushed up against his firm chessed so that they were nestled together perfectly without an inch of free space between the two of them, and as one of Daryl's hands rested against her stomach, the other worked its way underneath her nightdress. Soon, his fingers were tracing lazy circles over the smooth skin of her hips, and Beth turned her head slightly - the angle uncomfortable, but not necessarily painful - so that she could kiss him.

The couple kissed at a slow and leisurely pace, neither of them rushing as their tongues probed against each other's. When she pulled herself away from him, Daryl moved his lips so that he could place a gentle kiss against her forehead before Beth cleared her throat.

"Did everything run smoothly?" Beth asked her husband, genuinely interested in how the deal with his potential tennant had gone.

Daryl didn't say much about it, choosing to just his shoulders nonchalantly. "Was alright," he answered her, not necessarily sounding very enthusiastic at all. "Did the deal. Jus' took longer than expected," he continued to explain before he placed a kiss to her shoulder through her flimsy nightdress.

Beth turned herself in his arms then so that they were still very much wrapped around her slender body, but so that the two of them were now facing each other, their faces merely inches apart. One of her hands was resting on his chest, her fingernails raking over the skin there, whilst the other slowly moved up to his face so that she could brush some of his hair back.

"Did you miss me?" Beth purred to him, smirking slightly as she gazed up at him teasingly.

Daryl cocked his head at that before he leaned closer into her so that their lips were brushing against each others. "What do _you_ think?" he murmured, rocking his hips into her so that she could feel his growing erection pressing against the expanse of her stomach.

At the initial contact, Beth's light eyes widened in surpise, but after a beat the smirk that had been resting on her face widened into a smile before she closed the small distance between them, kissing him once again. This time, though, their kiss was much more hungry; fuelled by desire and want, filled with passion and need, and within seconds Daryl's hands were roaming all over her toned body. Instinctively, Beth hoised one of her freshly shaved legs up and wrapped it around his hip so that his erection was pressed directly against her center, and the two of them together began a motion of rocking together.

The low groan that Daryl let out against her lips had Beth's mind spinning, but after just a short while of teasing the young woman couldn't help herself but to break their kiss with a gasp; her breathing laboured as she looked up at her husband. Like hers, Daryl's chest was rising and falling quickly, too, but he was now frowning down at her in confusion about why she had stopped them when she did. Suddenly, Beth felt even hotter than she had done whilst she was kissing her husband; her cheeks now burning pink and her heart thumping against her chest even faster than it had been doing.

Not wanting to wait much longer, Daryl made a move to dip his head and kiss her again, but Beth pushed her head back further. "Wait," she breathed to him, looking up to his deep eyes with urgency. "Wait. We need to talk," she said, her words slow and her breathing still heavy.

Daryl smirked at that before he bumped his nose with hers. "Sure we got plenty of time for talkin' later," he mubled against her lips, pressing a chaste kiss to them that Beth couldn't help but return.

 _"Daryl,"_ she groaned, dragging out all of the letters of his name. "I'm being serious," she said, half-scolding him as one of his hands squeezed at the flesh of her ass. Daryl let out an _mmmm_ as he nuzzled his head into her neck, pressing another couple of kisses there before he let out a sigh.

"Alright, alright," he said when she huffed, and Daryl pulled himself back from her and rested his head against the pillow once more, lower this time so that their eyes were level with each others. "Wha' is it?"

Getting to this point had been easy enough, but talking to him now was proving to be difficult, and the lump in Beth's throat that had just appeared seemed to be growing larger and larger by the second. The young blonde nervously swallowed it down, and the expression on her face must have been one of pure panic as Daryl seemed to grow more concerned, too, his tone suddenly more serious.

"Beth," he said, his brows pulling together. "Is everything okay?"

Immediately, Beth nodded her head up and down, finding that her lips twitched upwards naturally. "Yes," she breathed before she let out a breathless laugh, her hand cupping his face and her thumb rubbing over his cheek as she gazed straight at him. "Everything is fine. More than fine. Everything is perfect," she said, and Daryl seemed to just be even more confused than he was before.

Not wanting to cry from the joy that she felt, Beth breahted in deeply before she spoke again. "Daryl," she breathed, the smile on her face widening until it was brighter than it ever usually was. "Daryl, we're going to have a baby," she told him, her thumb pausing in its motions of stroking his face affectionately. "I'm going to have a child. _We're_ going to have a child."

For a short few seconds, Daryl was completely silent, his eyes widened and his body still. Beth wasn't even sure whether or not the older man was breathing and he most certainly wasn't blinking, but then he let out a heavy breath and continued to look right at her, his voice slightly shaky as he spoke.

"You're sure?" he asked her, and Beth nodded her head quickly.

"The doctor," she murmured to him. "Carol... Carol arranged for him to come and see me. The doctor confirmed it today."

The lady of the house thought that her husband might be irritated about the fact that she hadn't bothered to inform him of the appointment that she had with the doctor, but surprisinly, he seemed to not be at all phased by it. Beth assumed that it was something to do with the fact that he was a little shocked at the big news that she had just shared with him.

Daryl didn't say anything else to her about it that night, and he looked to be in deep thought for a little while longer before he finally offered her a barely-there smile. Without warning, his lips were on hers again, and Beth's eyes widened in surprise before she melted into his arms once again. He wasn't at all rough with her from then on out - instead, he was delicate, his hands trailing over her body as if she was made of glass and might break if he pressed on her too hard.

And Beth wanted more from him - wanted him harder and faster, needed him quicker and rougher, but she ignored the aching need that she had for him to be that way with her and instead moved along at his pace, focusing herself on enjoying the way in which he tenderly touched her and the way in which his mouth worked slowly and lovingly over hers. It was sweet and it was soft and it was pure; and not for the first time in their relationship, Beth had the idea that her husband was literally worshipping her as he worked his hands over her smooth body.

When he spilled himself inside of her, Beth couldn't help but smile up at him, and when he collapsed on her chest in a tired state, Daryl finally spoke once again before he drifted off into sleep.

"I love you," he murmured into her breasts, stunning the young woman into silence. At his words, Beth had found her own body going completely still, but after a few seconds of her processing what he had told her she leaned forward and pressed a tender kiss to his head.

"And I love you," she said back to him in a quiet voice, although she doubted that he had heard her considering the fact that he was already snoring.

That night, Beth fell asleep with a soft smile on her face, and when he rolled off from her in the night, Daryl unconsciously pulled her back to him. As he slept, the older man kept his palm pressed against her flat stomach at all times.

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 **This story seems to have received some extra attention these last few days, and I'm not necessarily sure where all of these new followers/favouriters/reviewers have come from, but I just wanted to say hello to you all and say thanks for joining the ride! I'm glad so many people are enjoying this fic and thank you so much to all of you for giving me such kind words of support!**

 **I've mentioned before that I've been paying a lot of attention to my other Bethyl fic, 'Clean', so I feel like I've sort of neglected this... But I'm definitely back for the ride with this one. I have a feeling that this fic is going to be similar to my other Bethyl story 'Only One' and be somewhere around thirty chapters _at least,_ so I hope none of you mind long stories all that much!**

 **As always, thanks for reading. You guys are so sweet!**


	20. Chapter 20

**I apologise in advance for the bit of the lengthy AN here, but I just wanted to address a guest review that I've received on this story regarding the slave trade. Unfortunately I think guest reviews must take longer to appear on this site or something, so I've only been able to read a little bit of it from what appeared on the email notification I received, so from what I have read I just wanted to mention a few things (sorry if I've missed anything out to answer any questions/points that were made as I'm going from memory here):**

 **When I wrote this story, it was the second time that I had ever written a piece for fanfiction after my first ever Bethyl fic, 'Only One'. I have always loved this period in history and whilst writing this I have also been writing a non-Bethyl verison that is slightly different, but follows the same basic plot. When I first planned this out, I fully intended to include things like the civil war and the slave trade, however in the first few chapters I asked readers about their opinions on things - whether they had any suggestions for me, where they would like to see this fic go, etc - and whilst a few people mentioned the civil war, absolutely nobody mentioned the slave trade. For that reason, I assumed that nobody really wanted to read about that or that they didn't think that it would be an important part of this fic, and that is why I have never really addressed it.**

 **I think that it's still a little bit of a touchy subject for some people and I most definitely wouldn't want to go and offend anybody in writing this story as writing for me is really just a fun hobby. I always address the people in this fic as 'employees' or 'workers', however you are more than welcome to interpret them as being slaves because yes, that's what they are. At this time in history obviously the slave trade was just something that was normal and I wouldn't want to act like I'm ignorant to that, however I definitely still try to behave sensitively towards it so not to upset anyone or trigger anything and I hope that that's understandable from everyone's POV.**

 **To any readers who would prefer to see the people who are working for Daryl and Beth as slaves, then that is absolutely fine because as I said, this was my intention when I first wrote this fic - the only person really who isn't a slave is Carol, which we will see in later chapters. However, it definitely isn't something that's a major part of the plot so if you would prefer to continue to see these people as employees or workers, then please feel free to do so. I've left it as vague as possible so that people could interpret it their own way and I apologise if this has made anyone feel as though this story is not authentic or genuine to the period of time that I've written it in, however when I first started writing this fic I was a lot less sure of myself and of my writing and I didn't want to take it down a route that would offend or upset anybody.**

 **I hope that all makes sense and addresses any points/questions!**

 **On another note:**

 **As always, thank you all so much for all of your lovely words of support and also to everyone who has followed/favourited this story! I appreciate it so much, you have no idea.**

 **I also just wanted to say a quick hello to all new readers (although how some of you have read this whole story though in one go, I have no idea - you guys are crazy, but I love it!). A few people have mentioned in their reviews that they have been directed here from tumblr, so I just wanted to say a special thank you to MsVsquared, andsowewalkalone & bethgreenesgirlgang from tumblr for all directing some new readers to this story. I really appreciate it. **

**If I've missed anyone who has recommended you to visit this fic then please let me know, and since a few people have asked I just wanted to confirm that I am on tumblr with the same username (xmjcx).**

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It was only a few hours later - in the middle of the night, when the moon was still hanging high up in the dark sky - that Beth awoke from her slumber to the feel of her husband's lips pressing against the skin of her neck. One of Daryl's hands was resting on her hip whilst the other drew small circles along the inside of one of her creamy thighs, gently applying some barely-there pressure to the skin of her leg with his fingernails in a manner that had goosebumps appearing all over the younger woman's flesh.

A shudder racked her body as Beth opened her eyes and tilted her chin ever so slightly, and with the realisation that his wife was now awake, Daryl's lips began to run a trail from where they had been ghosting over her neck so that they trailed their way up her jaw. He peppered kisses against her flesh the whole way up until his mouth was hovering just over her own.

Beth's lips had already parted so that she could say something in greeting to him, but before even had the opportunity to process any words through her sleepy brain, Daryl's lips were covering her own. The kiss that they shared was soft but it was urgent, too, and as the pace of it began to quicken, Beth couldn't help but open her blue eyes wide in surprise. It appeared that her husband was incredibly eager to devour her, but Beth pulled away slightly, not really putting much distance between the two of them as she eyed him curiously in the darkness.

Both of their chests were heaving as blue met blue, and in the dimly lit room Beth could barely even make out her husband's stormy eyes, never mind anything else. After just a few seconds of them being apart, Daryl was quickly on her once more, his tongue probing against hers in a way that had Beth moaning softly into his mouth.

"Again?" she murmured against Daryl's lips the next time that she broke their passionate embrace, surprise and excitement evident in her tone. Both of her soft hands came up from where her husband had pinned them at her sides so that they could cup his face, her eyes searching his for some sort of indication as to what it was that Daryl wanted.

The expression on her husband's face was one of pure seriousness, but his eyes were practically black with desire as he nodded his head once at her. The only noise in the bedroom for another few seconds was the sound of both of their heavy breathing and despite Daryl's serious expression, Beth couldn't do anything to resist the small smirk that creeped over her lips at his response before she leaned forward and kissed him again.

This time, neither of them broke the kiss for anything at all, and in one smooth motion Beth flipped them over so that instead of the two of them being lay on their sides, she was straddling her husband. The temperature of the room may have been overly warm for her own liking and her thighs may have still been sticky from the evidence of their love making just a few hours before, but Beth was more than eager to have her husband inside of her once more.

The lady of the house quickly moved herself so that she could sink down onto his length, gasping in pleasure into the darkness as her hands gripped to the gold headboard of their bed in an attempt to steady herself. As she rocked her hips back and forth and up and down, Daryl groaned up at her, both of his big hands coming to rest on either side of her impossibly small waist as he encouraged her to ride him faster and harder.

That night, it didn't take either of them long at all to be built to the brink of their pleasure, and soon Daryl was positioning his hips so that they were aligned with her own and so that he could thrust up into her at an almost painful pace as he chased his own release. Once he had thoroughly spilled himself inside of her again, Beth collapsed onto her husband's chest in a sweaty heap, her light eyes drifting to a close almost immediately.

Despite the fact that the heat radiating off from his body made her resting upon him almost uncomfortable, Beth found that she just couldn't move from where she was nestled in between the space of his shoulder and his jaw. Half unconsciously, Beth hummed to herself in pleasure and in approval when Daryl's fingers trailed up and down the length of her spine; and just before she finally drifted off back to sleep, the older man placed a tender kiss to her damp forehead.

The words that he murmured against the skin there before she fell asleep were completely missed by her due to the quietness of his voice, but Beth didn't even need to think about what it was that her husband might have been telling her in that moment - she already knew.

* * *

"I hear that congratulations are in order."

At the sound of Maggie's voice practically echoing through the library from somewhere behind her, the lady of the house jumped sligtly, almost dropping the book that she had been holding in her hands down onto the floor. Thankfully she had caught herself before Maggie had been able to notice just how much her presence had effected her younger sibling.

The lady of the house bit down on the inside of her cheek as she processed Maggie's words, and she debated on how to handle this before she turned around to face her sister for the first time since their huge fall out that suddenly didn't seem as if it was all that long ago.

At the end of the day, Maggie was Beth's sister. The older woman was her family, and no matter what had happened back in Ireland - or over here, for that matter - Maggie was still someone that Beth loved dearly, someone that she held close to her heart.

But try as she might, the young blonde just could not forget the way in which her sister had just stood there whilst Shane had attacked her, the way in which Maggie had done nothing at all to help her, nothing at all to protect her. The sting of it probably would not have been half as bad had Beth not done everything that she possibly could in an attempt to protect her sister and save him from the monster that their father had arranged for her to marry.

As the older of the two, Beth had always just assumed that her sister would look after her and look out for her no matter what; but apparantly, that had not been the case - Beth could see that now.

Clearing her throat, the blonde turned herself around from where she had been stood facing one of the bookshelves, the novel that she had been flicking through still gripped firmly in her hand as she blinked slowly at her sister. It was somewhat shocking for Beth to see Maggie dressed in a working outfit; her hair pinned back from her face neatly and her chocolate coloured dress decorated in what looked to be dust.

But even though it broke Beth's heart to have to see her sister cleaning her own home, she also knew that this role was necessary for Maggie the same way in which it was necessary for Glenn to work out on the fields. After all, her husband had already done so much for both her sister and Glenn; and Daryl could not be expected to alow either of them to live in one of his properites and do absolutely nothing to help out or contribute.

To be fair to Daryl, he had made sure that it was seen to that both Glenn and Maggie had it much better than the other workers; most of whom lived in the quarters underneath the property, where there were no windows to let in natural light or a cool breeze, either. But there was only so much that Daryl could do for the two of them, and they both had to earn their keep somehow - it wasn't as if it was Daryl's fault that Maggie wasn't used to working.

Not that Maggie understood or accepted any of that, of course.

Then again, the older sibling had never really been the most rational person, even at the best of times.

"Excuse me?" Beth said, feigning innocence as well as she could despite the fact that her sister could probably see the way in which her pule was thrumming away against the column of her throat.

At Beth's words, Maggie smiled - although it was more of a bitter smile, one that was masking some of Maggie's anger yet showing it at the same time - and shook her head from side to side. When she spoke her voice trembled as though she was going to cry, yet her tone was laced with fury at the same time. "When was it that you were planning on letting me know that soon enough, I will be an aunt?"

It was unclear to Beth how exactly it could be that her older sister would know of such news. Immediately, Beth dismissed all thoughts of Carol informing Maggie of the situation, knowing deep in her heart that the older woman would never do such a thing, would never tell a soul. Whilst Beth didn't know much about Carol or her life or the relationship that she had with Daryl, the lady of the house did know that the older woman was firecely loyal to her husband, and that was all that really mattered.

So if it wasn't Carol who had shared such joyous news, and it wasn't Daryl - Beth didn't need to even think on about it at all, she just _knew_ that it definitely wasn't Daryl who had shared the information with Maggie - then it must have had to have been Dr S. That, or Maggie had been eavesdropping at their appointment, but Beth struggled to imagine this to have been possible considering the fact that Carol had been stood outside of the door the entire time, practically guarding it with her life.

Alas, Maggie knew, and Beth wasn't even sure anymore about whether or not it mattered how exactly she knew. The lady of the house supposed that it just mattered that Maggie did know, and it mattered that this issue was dealt with - and fast.

"Of course I was going to tell you," Beth said honestly, her brows knotted together as she blinked at her sister. "I've just been -"

"Just been _busy?_ " Maggie interrupted, quickly cutting her younger sibling off with a loud scoff. As Beth's wide eyes trailed over Maggie's appearance, she noticed that the woman's hands were literally shaking - most likely with anger - from where she stood across the room.

Naturally, Beth straightened her back up at her sister's sarcastic comment and tone of voice, her light eyes narrowing ever so slightly in Maggie's direction. Her stance must have not been all that intimidating as Maggie continued on with her insulting words. "Busy doing _what,_ Beth? Busy checking to make sure that all the rooms have been dusted accordingly? Busy keeping an eye on how quickly we're sweeping your floors? Busy making sure that everything has been done well enough for your tastes?"

As she spoke, the venom in her tone became more and more prominant, although there was a part of Beth that really couldn't seem to blame Maggie all that much for her bitterness, couldn't blame her for the obvious resentment that she felt towards her younger sibling. The blonde could appreciate the fact that it must have been both degrading and humiliating for Maggie to walk into this house and start to clean it alongside the other workers when she knew full well that somewhere in these walls, Beth was walking around, busying herself with small jobs.

But this was different because this was her _sister,_ and jealousy should definitely not factor into their relationship. Not anymore. Not now that they were both grown and both independent and both capable of making their own decisions, their own choices. Maggie had most certainly made her own bed when she had decided to run away with her lover, and although Beth was considered to be quite naive, she had also expected something similar to happen once the sisters arrived in Georgia.

So if Beth had known that something along these lines was coming, then Maggie would have definitely had to have known. Unless her sister had been expecting to just coast along being financially supported by her brother in law (which, in all honesty, also wouldn't surprise Beth at all), then Maggie would have known that her and Glenn would have had to earn their keep one way or another.

An exhausted sigh escaped Beth's lips as she gently shook her head in disappointment at her older sibling. "I am the lady of this house," Beth said, her light eyes locked on Maggie's hazel ones as the two women stared each other down. "It is my duty to make sure that everything is in order, and it is most certainly none of your concern what tasks I occupy myself with. You would do well to remember that."

"It's my concern that you're carrying a child," Maggie hissed in response, her teeth gritted as she did so.

That comment caused Beth to arch an eyebrow as she placed one of her hands on her hips, anger building up inside of her chest now as Maggie continued to prod her about the baby. This had been such a happy time for her; a time of celebration and of love, a time of happiness and elation, and it felt as though Maggie was trying her hardest to rip all those wonderful emotions away from her.

"It _is_?" Beth asked, the question coming out in an incredibly sarcastic tone as her hand came up to cover her mouth as she pretended to gasp. "Oh. Well, I do apologise if I have at all offended you, _miss._ I forgot that I had to report to you about everything."

Maggie frowned then, clearly not entertained at all by her younger sister's attitude towards her. "You went to _Ms P_ and not _me._ I'm your _sister,_ " Maggie spat, although it took Beth half of a second to recall who her sister meant by 'Ms P'. Once she understood where exactly it was that Maggie was trying to go with this, Beth shook her head from side to side quickly.

"I think I would have struggled to have come to _you_ about this when you wouldn't even allow me to enter your home," Beth said, a flash of hurt appearing in her eyes as she recalled the way in which Maggie had practically slammed the door in her face every time that she had attempted to visit her since the two of them had moved to Georgia. "What I choose to do, along with where and with whom, is _none_ of your concern."

"Yes, but _I am your sister,_ " Maggie said as she pointed one of her fingers at Beth, fury dancing in her own hazel eyes as they widened impossibly.

It must have been the hundreth time that Maggie had repeated those words to her over the last few weeks, and as much as Beth wanted to make sure that she behaved properly around all of her workers, she couldn't help herself but to roll her eyes in an annoyance at Maggie's comment. "Well, you would have done well to remember that when your husband was trying to kill me," Beth spat back at Maggie.

The older woman's eyes widened again at Beth's comment, and although her mouth was open as if she was ready to say something else, nothing came out of her mouth for a good few seconds. For a brief moment, both of the sisters were quiet - neither of them ripping their eyes away from each other - until Maggie spoke up, her voice hushed and trembling as though she might cry once again. "You can't hate me forever," Maggie murmured.

"I don't hate you," Beth said, her own tone becoming more soft as Maggie shook her head from side to side. "I don't. But what I'm saying to you is _true._ You are not entitled to behave this way; not towards me, not in my own home."

As she finally moved and stepped towards the door that led out of the library, the novel she had picked up still in her hand, Beth paused directly in front of her sister, their eyes blazing at each other with a fire that nobody would be able to put out. "I have told you once. _I_ am the lady of this house. You will do well to remember that."

And then Beth was gone, exiting the room with her back straight and her chin held high, leaving her older sister stuttering from somewhere behind her as she remained rooted to the same spot in the library. And despite the fact that Beth almost felt slightly guilty for behaving in such a way towards Maggie, she also knew that it had to be done.

 _Someone_ had to put the older woman in her place, after all.

* * *

" _Daryl,_ " Beth pouted, her tone whiney and needy. "You _must_ teach me."

The blonde was perched at the end of the mattress where she had been brushing through her long blonde strands for the past fifteen minutes, giggling softly as she addressed her husband. From where he was sat against the headboard of their bed, a book open in his lap, Daryl let out a chuckle as he glanced up at his wife.

"Nah," the older man said to her with a smirk as he shook his head from side to side. "I like the way tha' you speak. I don't _want_ you speakin' like I do."

As Daryl spoke, Beth leaned her upper body forward so that she could just about reach one of the nightstands and she placed the hairbrush down upon the surface of it before she returned her attention back to her hubsand. The blonde offered him a soft smile as she turned her body around, placing her palms and her knees flat against the mattress so that she could begin to crawl her way up the king size bed towards where Daryl was sat reading.

Once again, the older man glanced up at his wife from where he had been looking at the book, but this time there was a knowing expression on his face as Beth approached him. Still, his eyes narrowed slightly as though he were suspicious of her motives as he folded over the corner of the page of his book and then closed it before he moved it to the side, clearing the space on his lap just for her.

When Beth reached her husband, she made a move to sit herself down upon his lap quite quickly, effectively straddling him as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"But _sir,_ " Beth said, enjoying the way that his eyes lit up at her tone as his big hands snaked around her waist. "I just asked you so _nicely._ "

Unable to resist, Daryl pushed his head forward so that his lips could meet with Beth's in a smile kiss before he pulled away, still shaking his head from side to side as he stared at her with deep blue eyes. "An' I already told you _no,_ " he responded, still smirking at her as he spoke.

Her husband's tone was just as playful as her own, and Beth leaned herself down so that she could nip against his neck before she then wriggled herself away from him, choosing to flop herself down on the mattress beside him so that she was lay on her back. All of her long blonde hair fanned out on the pillow around her upper body, and Beth let out a laugh when Daryl ticked her ribs lightly through her nightdress as he moved to lay down on his side so that he was facing her.

Instead of looking at him, however, Beth stared up straight at the ceiling of their bedroom as she spoke. "Your brother arrives tomorrow," she stated. "Everyone who I have met so far has struggled to understand me. It's not that I want to speak like you all of the time, I just... Some words would be helpful. Just for _sometimes."_

Out of the corner of her light eyes, Beth could see that Daryl appeared to be a little confused. "Words?" he asked, and Beth nodded her head up and down.

"Yes," she confirmed. "Words. To help me... Fit in."

As she spoke, she turned her head so that she was facing him, but from the look on her husband's face it actually appeared as though he was really thinking this over before he let out a deep sigh. Daryl had always told her that he couldn't say no to her, and now she was beginning to get the feeling that he was about to give in.

"Alright," he breathed, nodding his head at her once.

At his agreement to help her, Beth couldn't help but to squeal with delight before she leaned up and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips.

"Can we start now?" she asked him, her wide blue eyes filled with hope as she grinned up at her husband. Daryl let out a low chuckle before he rolled himself over her, careful to make sure that he didn't actually apply any of his body weight against her.

"Maybe not _right_ now," Daryl murmured as his mouth hovered over her earlobe, his tone hushed and low as he spoke down her ear.

Beth found herself shuddering inadvertedly, and even though she had been eager to receive some education about how the American's used the English language, all of those thoughts flittered from her mind as her husband nipped on her ear lobe, effectively distracting her from everything to do with American slang.

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 **I'm really sorry that I can't remember who mentioned that I should have Beth asking Daryl to teach her some American slang, but I absolutely loved that idea so I went with it. We will be meeting the one and only Merle Dixon in the next chapter, and I have to say he is going to be a lot more easy to handle in this fic then he is in my other Bethyl fic, 'Clean' - but that certainly won't make him an angel, let me assure you.**

 **Thanks for reading everyone!**


	21. Chapter 21

**I have written this whole chapter whilst looking after an eighteen month old, so please forgive me if there's any obvious errors. I've been officially run ragged and I can guarantee you all that I will most definitely be sleeping soundly tonight (and fingers crossed I won't be having children anytime soon - I am most definitely too young and too busy writing to deal with this constantly!)**

 **As always, thank you all for your lovely reviews and to everyone who has followed/favourited this story so far. I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

A sigh escaped the lady of the houses lips as she breathed out the words that she had been thinking over the last few days since the news of her pregnancy had first reached her.

"I think... I think I'm becoming _fat._ "

Beth frowned at herself as she watched her own reflection in the view of the floor length mirror. Whilst she had been studying her appearance - which seemed to be changing almost daily - Deanna, one of the older women (probably one a similar age to Carol) had helped her with her skirts and was now tying up the strings of her corset.

Now that Beth was carrying a child in her belly, the strings of her dresses were not being tied as thightly as they had previously been tied and her skirts also did not carry as much weight as she was used to. Nobody had discussed these sorts of alterations to her clothing with her, although Beth had a feeling that it most likely had something to do with her husband who had been growing increasingly over-protective of her since the news of her pregnancy had reached his ears.

Despite the fact that her skirts were lighter and her clothing of choice was never tied so tightly anymore, Beth was still able to notice the beginning of the physical signs of her pregnancy. Some of the other women in the house commented on her skin, calling her words such as _'radiant'_ and insisting that she seemed as though she was _glowing,_ but Beth had a feeling that those were just words that the workers were saying to her in an attempt to make her feel better about herself.

Perhaps it was due to the fact that Beth had always been used to having such a small and slender frame that made it that much more difficult for the young woman to accept the fact that her body would naturally take a much larger form now that she was pregnant. Either way, despite them fact that her husband seemed to be completely oblivious to the way in which her body was changing (Daryl just _had_ to be practically blind, she thought, considering the fact that he still wanted to kiss her and touch her and make love to her when she looked like _this),_ Beth could see it all clear as day.

Try as she might to tell herself that the pink marks that had already began to form themselves on her hips were natural and beautiful - a sign of the fact that she was growing a person inside of her belly - Beth just couldn't bring herself to believe it. As much as she loved her husband and as much as she definitely wanted to bring a child into this world - to bring _their_ child into this world - she had to admit that she had never thought that it would be anything like this.

It seemed as though having a baby wasn't anywhere near as romantic or interesting as the novels that she had read before had made it out to be.

As Deanna tied up the last string of the corset that Beth was wearing, the older woman brushed herself past the side of the lady of the house so that she could position herself straight in front of the mirror. It meant that Deanna could get a better look at Beth's appearance, and from where she stood directly in front of her, the older woman let out a _tsk_ as she shook her head back and forth before stepping forward. The tips of her shoes were practically touching Beth's as Deanna began to smooth down the material on the front of Beth's navy dress.

"You are becoming no such thing, ma'am," Deanna said, her words firm but her tone kind and almost understanding. "A swollen belly simply means that your child is healthy."

Sceptical at that, Beth naturally arched one of her light eyebrows. "You're sure?" the younger woman asked, her tone hesitant and completely giving away the fact that she was not sure on whether she should believe what it was that Deanna was telling her.

The worker just nodded her head up and down, her eyes practically twinkling as she moved her hands so that one of her palms rested flat against Beth's shoulder. "Of _course,_ " Deanna said, sounding very sure of herself and practically offended that Beth seemed to be unsure about whether or not she was being honest with her. The older woman gave Beth's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "I have carried children of my own before, ma'am. That way, you pick up on these sorts of things."

Beth simply blinked at Deanna for a couple of seconds before she stuttered out a response. "You have?" Beth asked, her eyes widening slightly as she learned something new about the woman who stood before her.

The two women had caught sight of each other around the house on several occasions and there had been a few times when they had acknowledged each other, but Beth had never properly been in Deanna's company - at least now for very long, barely more than several minutes at a time - and she was pleasantly surprised to learn that the older woman was much easier to talk with and get along with than her colleague Carol. Still, there was a lot that Beth didn't know about Deanna - especially the fact that she was a mother herself.

Although she smiled up at the lady of the house, Deanna didn't seem all too happy about it as she answered Beth's question with a simple and chirpy "sure have". The slightly wrinkled hand that wasn't still resting on her shoulder came up to Beth's face as the older woman brushed some of her hair back, tucking a thick strand of the long wavy locks behind her ear. "Two sons," she said as she looked Beth directly in the eyes, answering her unspoken question.

"What are their names?" Beth inquired with a tilt of her head, genuinely interested now that the two of them had began to discuss this.

Deanna continued to smile at Beth, but the smile that was spread across her face wasn't necessarily a pleasant one. It was a soft sort of smile, but it was most definitely a sad one, and then the older woman shook her head back and forth several times. "My husband and I..." Deanna began, averting eye contact and allowing her gaze to fall to the floor as she trailed off. "Well," she said, tilting her chin back up so that she could look at Beth. "We chose not to name our eldest. God took him from us during the birth."

At Deanna's words, the lady of the house immediately bowed her head to the floor, sympathy and sadness dancing in her light eyes before she squeezed them shut. "My condolensces," Beth said, her voice sounding so small and her words seeming so inadequate.

"It's quite alright," Deanna said, pushing herself backwards so that there was some more distance in between the two women. "It happened a long time ago. My second born - Aidan - my husband and I haven't seen him for quite some time now."

As Beth opened her mouth to question why that was the case, there was a knock on the door, and Beth glanced apologetically at Deanna before she called for the person to enter the room. It was Carol who leisurely opened the wooden door and leaned her upper body against it, cocking a brow and narrowing her eyes in Deanna's direction almost questioningly before she cleared her throat and spoke up.

"Ma'am. My apologies for intruding," Carol said - not sounding very apologetic whatsoever - as she nodded her head in Beth's direction. "Your husband requested that I sent for you."

Offering the older woman a kind smile, the lady of the house bowed her head slightly in response. "That's quite alright, Carol. Is everything okay?"

"Oh, everything's fine," Carol said, her tone casual and relaxed, but the smile on her face didn't meet her cool blue eyes and Beth had a feeling that she wasn't necessarily being all that honest with her. "It's nothing to worry about, of course. I just had to inform you that your brother in law has arrived."

* * *

It was shortly afterwards that Beth was first introduced to Merle Dixon. The young woman went and was waiting alongside her husband and several of the workers - Deanna and Carol included - on the large space of the front porch of the house.

Almost instantly, Beth was reminded of the first time that she had ever been introduced to Daryl Dixon. Memories of his grand carriage and his grand horse being positioned front and center outside of her father's reasonably sized farmhouse came to her mind, images of Daryl climbing up the porch steps when he was just a handsome stranger whilst he greeted her father and then her, placing a kiss to the back of her hand hand as he stared her right in her light blue eyes.

That meeting - their first ever meeting - had only occured just a few months ago, but to Beth it already seemed as though it had been years since the two of them had first been introduced to one another. Despite how angry she had been when her father had first informed her that she would be marrying this man that now stood beside her - the man that had merely been a stranger back then, a suitor who for some reason pleased Hershel Greene - Beth knew in her heart that she had found her soulmate through it all.

Her dream had always been to marry for love, and although that hadn't happened for her, in the end she had fallen in love with the man whom she had married. And for that, Beth was almost grateful to her father for arranging this whole relationship.

Her husband stepped forward to greet his brother with a firm handshake and a clap on the back from both parties. Although Beth was standing too far back from the men to be able to hear what was said, they both broke out into loud laughter before Daryl turned around and looked straight over at Beth, his lips twisting upwards into a smile as he pointed his brother in her direction.

Merle Dixon was definitely nothing like his younger brother. Where Daryl's hair was long and dark and thick, Merle's was practically non-existant, and where Daryl's eyes were a deep shade of blue, Merle's were much, much lighter. The look that Merle was giving her was almost as intense as the ones that Daryl gave her though, and Beth thought to herself that the brothers most definitely shared a knack for making people feel as though they could see directly through them.

"So," Merle said in a slow drawl as his eyes trailed up and down the length of her body. Beth continued to stand up as straight as she could with her chin held high in something that was almost like defiance. "This is the one and only Beth Greene."

The older man's eyes were narrowed slightly, his head cocked to one side and his tongue just passing his lips as he stared at her intently in a way that had the young blonde feeling all different types of nervous. Still, Beth tried to keep her voice as strong as possible as she stared right back at her brother in law. "I do believe that it's Beth _Dixon_ now," Beth responded, and from the corner of her eye she could see that her husband was smirking from where he stood slightly behind his older brother.

At her comment, Merle smiled; but Beth noted that it was more of an intimidating, wolfish grin than a genuine happy smile. If the lady of the house had been more relaxed then she probably would have shuddered at the sight, but she was nervous and on edge, and that seemed to be having an effect on her body; keeping it completely still in her perfect posture as the two of them continued to stare at each other.

After a good few seconds of looking at her, Merle turned his head so that he was facing his younger brother. "She give you much trouble, this one?"

Daryl's expression turned from a frown to a blatant scowl as he narrowed his deep blue eyes at his older brother. "No," was all that Daryl offered him in response.

Although Beth couldn't see Merle's expression, she doubted that the older man was very happy with his younger brother's lack of playfulness in his response. Slowly, Merle nodded his head in his brother's direction before he turned around so that he was once again looking straight at Beth. For the second time, Merle's incredibly bright blue eyes trailed over Beth's body before he spoke again.

"You sure tha' she's worth all that bastard's land, baby brother?"

From the sight of that wolfish grin spreading across Merle's face, the older of the two Dixon's knew full well that he had just said something that he was most definitely not supposed to say, and when Beth's light blue eyes trailed over to her husband, she took note of the shocked and somewhat panicked expression that rested on his face.

As much as Beth wanted nothing more than to ask Daryl what it was that was meant behind Merle's words, she knew better than to do that in front of everyone who was stood on the front porch watching the three of them interacting. So instead of allowing any signs of surprise, hurt or offence to flicker over her features, Beth twitched her lips upwards as she arched a brow at the older of the two brothers.

"I can assure you that my husband believes that I am worth every single piece of my father's land," she retorted.

Once again, Merle eyed her for a few more seconds before he let out a bellowing laugh that was so loud that Beth almost jumped on the spot out of surprise.

"An' I'm sure he does, sweetheart," Merle said, placing a hand on her shoulder before he tore his gaze from the young blonde and instead looked over the features of the workers who stood patiently at the back of the porch.

As Merle's attention flickered away, his bright eyes seemed to linger for a little longer than necessary on the sign above the door where both Daryl and Beth's full names were written in gold letters before he returned his attention back to his sister in law once again. Continuing to stand her ground, Beth waited for another smart remark to escape his lips and was surprised when it wasn't all that offensive towards her.

"Ain't you gonna be a good host an' invite ol' Merle inside?" the older man asked her, all of his teeth on show as he grinned straight at her.

Although she was caught a little off guard by his request (she had been expecting something else that would reveal what exactly it was that he had meant by his previous words to his brother. Blinking several times, Beth nodded her head up and down. "Of course," Beth said to him, smiling up at Merle as sweetly as she possibly could. "Why don't you follow me and we can come get some supper for you, Merle?"

* * *

The three of them ate together at the table, although Beth found that she wasn't very involved in the conversation that the two brother's were having with one another. There had been a few times when Daryl had tried to include her in their conversation as they spoke over their food - particularly when he broke the news to his older brother that the two of them were expecting - and although Beth entertained them both with her words, she was most definitely not behaving like her normal self around her husband, and the younger woman had a feeling that Daryl knew exactly why it was that she was behaving this way.

It was Carol who offered to show Merle to his bedroom, and the older woman happily accepted her request, wasting no time in jumping up from where he was sat at the table - not before he let out a loud belch, of course - and then threw down his dirty napkin on top of his bowl, not bothering to glance back at the couple as they sat watching him from where they sat at the table.

It was obvious that Merle was familiar with Carol's company as the older man approached her, laughing loudly as he wrapped an arm around her slender shoulders and guided the way out of the dining room. A strange noise escaped Carol's lips - one that seemed to sound almost like a _giggle_ \- and then the door was closed, leaving Beth and Daryl sat in absolute silence.

Her husband cleared his throat from where he sat across the table from her, but Beth didn't bother to look at him. Instead, she glanced down at her soup and continued with spooning the warm liquid into her mouth, concentrating on finishing off her meal as opposed to looking up at her husband.

Once the pair of them had finished their food, Beth heard Daryl let out a long and heavy sigh. At the sound of Daryl rasping out her name, her light eyes immediately shot up so that she was looking over at him from across the table, unspoken words - and questions - hanging heavily between them.

"It ain't what you think," Daryl said, the words falling slowly from his mouth. When she didn't respond immediately, he continued. "Your dad... He needed my help."

Despite the fact that she knew it wasn't exactly proper to be disrespectful towards her husband - especially when he was trying to explain something in more detail to her - Beth just couldn't find it within her to resist the urge to roll her eyes. Perhaps she could blame it on all of the stress that the pregnancy was bringing her; but the young woman knew that she was just annoyed, plain and simple, as she threw her own napkin down from her lap and pushed her chair backwards.

Although there was so much that Beth wanted to say back to that, all she could manage to spit out was a sour and sarcastic "I'm sure."

As soon as the words left her mouth, Beth could feel her lower lip beginning to quiver and her eyes beginning to water, and before she could show Daryl the way in which this had effected her emotionally, Beth turned on her heel and rushed out of the dining room.

The blonde didn't need to turn around and look behind her to know that her husband was following behind her, closely at her heels. His legs were much longer than hers - after all, the man was much taller than her - and his footsteps were loud against the marble floor as he practically chased her up the stairs of the house.

When Beth slammed the bedroom door to a close, it was open again just a few seconds later, and this time Daryl chose to shut it much more quietly than she had done previously. Now that the older man had cornered her in the bedroom, Beth knew that she had no other option but to face him, and she turned around quickly on the spot so that the two of them were eye to eye.

Her husband was much closer than she had anticipated that he would be and the pair of them were breathing heavily. His deep blue eyes were staring directly into her own much lighter ones, and Daryl rubbed his nose and sniffed loudly before he spoke.

"I mean it," he said, his voice lower than what she was used to hearing from him. "If it weren't for me, your dad wouldn't even have a house no more."

Not wanting to listen to a word that her husband had to say about this, Beth shook her head and scoffed a little bit louder than was necessary.

Daryl growled at the sound of her scoffing at him and then he stepped forward, cupping her face in his hands so that she had no choice but to look up at him. "You gotta listen to me, girl," he said, his eyes dancing over her own. "It ain't wha' you think. I _promise._ "

The tears were pooling in her eyes once more as she stared intently up at her husband, and when she couldn't fight them from falling down her face any longer, Daryl's thumbs were there to wipe them away from her cheeks.

Not sure exactly why she felt the need to cry at this - after all, her father had married her sister off for a reason, so she had known deep down in her heart that there had been some sort of deal arranged between Hershel and Daryl - Beth allowed herself to be enveloped in her husbands arms as sobs racked through her body almost violently.

"You gotta know that it ain't like that, Beth," Daryl murmured as he rested his cheek against the top of her head, his fingers trailing over her the material of her dress so that they were moving up and down her back as he held her tightly to his chest. "Hershel... It was the drinkin', you know? An' the debt that it caused - without me, he wouldn't have been able to keep tha' house no longer. You - you wouldn't have had anythin' left, Beth. You gotta know that."

The words that Daryl spoke didn't necessarily comfort her, but they definitely relaxed her, even as she continued to sob against her shoulder. Daryl mumured his apology into her hairline over and over again as he peppered closed lipped kisses against her forehead, and despite the fact that Beth wanted nothing more than to crawl into their bed and collapse into sleep, Beth couldn't resist the urge to tilt her head up and capture her husband's lips with her own.

Without warning, Beth changed the kiss; upping the tempo of it so that it was much more urgent, filled with hunger and desire and pure lust from her side. Although Daryl's movements were stiff considering the fact that the older man seemed to be more than just a little bit confused about what was going on between them, he allowed for Beth to take control as she shoved him backwards onto the bed.

Within seconds, the younger woman was straddling his lap and pushing her center against his rapidly growing erection, and just a few minutes later Beth's skirts were bunched up around her hips and Daryl's pants were hanging loosely around his knees as the blonde moved herself quickly on top of him, settling into a steady rhythm for their love making.

* * *

 **So in one chapter we meet Merle, Beth finds out about the agreement that Daryl had with her father to get the land if they marry and Beth also struggles with her pregnancy hormones, that unfortunately she just doesn't understand at all.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Hello everyone!**

 **I'm not quite sure how many of you readers also read any of the other Bethyl fics that I'm currently working on, but I just wanted to let you all know that I go away on holiday for two weeks this Sunday so I won't be updating any of them during that time. I will be trying my best to update as many as I possible can today (definitely Clean and possibly Untouchable and State of Grace as well if I get time) because I'm working all day tomorrow and Saturday so this is probably my last chance to get everything written and published on here before I go away.**

 **This might seem a bit like a filler chapter but I wanted to try and show how Beth and Merle are starting to bond with one another and I also wanted to show more in the development of Beth and Daryl's relationship. Obviously Beth still doesn't quite understand her pregnancy hormones - what they are and what they're doing to her - but I will be addressing those in the next chapter.  
**

 **Enjoy and I'll see you in two weeks!**

* * *

The sound of bright, tinkling laughter practically floated through the air of the large house as Beth beamed over at her brother in law, the two of them walking down one of the halls with one of her slender arms linked through his own. The blonde was shaking her head from side to side as she giggled, not caring who was around to hear her loud laughter as she uncontrollably responded to one of the older man's truly appalling jokes.

Beth wasn't sure whether or not Merle purposely tried to make her laugh, but the older man definitely seemed to be enjoying the attention and the sound of her laughter. Usually she was anything but a fan of men who were so smug with themselves, especially when they tried to woo a woman, but Beth seemed to understand that this was different because it wasn't a man who thought that he could win her over, this was her brother in law. And even more than that, this was Merle Dixon; a man who Beth had easily learned was absolutely harmless, really.

At first glance, it may have seemed as though the pair of them would never really get along very well at all, but after only three days of sharing her new home with her husband's brother, Beth had seemed to very quickly figure out exactly how one should deal with Merle Dixon - and how to take him, too.

(Which was very lightly, of course - Beth learned in no time at all that anything that came out of Merle's mouth should rarely be taken seriously at all.)

It was never as though Beth had considered the older man to necessarily be horrible or even all that difficult to get along with, really - after all, if he could get Carol of all people in this house to crack a smile then he could hardly be all _that_ bad. Of course it had initally seemed as though Merle was just a little bit on the stubborn side of things and that was initially hard to break through, but Beth then thought on to herself about how this _was_ Daryl's older brother, and therefore there had been a part of her that had honestly expected nothing less from the man anyway.

Now that the two of them had come to finally relax in each other's company (because it had seemed as thought Merle had been equally just as unsure of Beth as she was of him, too) they were actually getting along incredibly well. Her husband also seemed pleased to find that his wife was entertaining his older brother despite the fact that he had been the one to open his mouth and spill out secrets that Beth assumed Daryl probably never wanted her to know. In a way, it relieved her to know that Daryl was more than relaxed about the two of them spending time together as it calmed any of her concerns that it most likely meant that there was nothing else for her to find out about her husband that she didn't already know.

Not that Daryl Dixon was an untrustworthy man, of course. But his actions had hurt her, even if he hadn't intended for them too, and all that Beth could do was wish that he had just been honest with her about the situation from the beginning.

And then since Daryl had gone and informed his older brother that in just a few months he would become and uncle, Merle had seemed to have been even more open to accepting Beth as a part of his immediate family. After all, she was a Dixon now - which he had actually stressed to her on a number of occasions already - and according to Merle, Dixon's take care of their own.

That logic apparantly meant that if Daryl wasn't able to be by her side because he was busy working then it was Merle who would take his place until he returned, and despite the fact that Beth had made it clear to both brothers on seperate occasions that she most definitely did not need a chaperone and could easily do plenty of things by herself and for herself, neither of them seemed to ease up on her.

It was nice of them all the same, though, and Beth was glad to see that both of them cared for her. Their over-protectiveness was slightly frustrating, but it was actually almost sweet in a way, too.

Even if Merle Dixon had to be the crudest man that she had ever met in her life.

* * *

It really was absolutely none of her business to ask about the romantic situation between the older of the two Dixon brother's and Carol, or even to just ask what had gone on in the past (if anything had ever gone on between them at all), but when Beth caught Merle's light blue eyes lingering on the older woman for just a little bit too long a period of time as she left the room once she had set down their plates at the dining room table, Beth couldn't help but ask the question that had been on her mind since Merle had arrived.

And part of her wasn't at all surprised when the older man boomed out a laugh in response and spoke in a voice loud enough that almost everyone in the house could probably hear him.

"Ain't shit goin' on 'tween me an' Carol, darlin'," the older brother drawled, his southern accent just as thick as it ever was and accompanied by a smug grin that stuck on his face. His male bravado didn't fool Beth at all anymore though, and she couldn't help but narrow her eyes just a little as she watched his reaction to her question. "Woman jus' wants a piece o' Merle, that's all. Ain't nothin' I've never dealt with before, an it ain't nothin' for you to worry your pretty head over."

A roll of her eyes seemed to just be a natural reaction to a combination of his smug smirk, his suggestive words and the wink that he threw at her once he finished speaking. The lady of the house knew that her behaviour around her brother-in-law was hardly at all proper or really that appropriate and her mama would have most likely been furious with her if she were here to see just how her daughter was behaving around this man that she barely knew, but the young woman justified it to herself that she had already picked up on the fact that both Daryl and Merle didn't seem to have much regard for proper behaviour, anyway.

Around company, Daryl would at least attempt to keep himself in check - to use his manners, to speak properly and clearly, to eat nicely - but Merle...

Well, Merle was a different story. A different story completely.

"I'm not _worried,_ " Beth said, unable to stop herself from smiling when Merle shot her a playful and knowing look. "I like Carol," she continued, her tone much softer now than it had been before. "I thought that... Well. It just seems as though your presence here has made her... made her _happy,_ " Beth finished, slightly struggling for a better word to describe the change in the older woman's behaviour.

Since Merle had arrived, Carol had practically been dancing around the hallways and Beth had actually even caught the older woman humming as she walked down one of the hallways. In general, Carol had been much more affectionate towards her these last few days, offering her kisses on the cheek and soft hugs, her behaviour reminding her of Patricia in some ways.

Reminding her of just how much she missed that woman, but also reminding her about just how glad she was that she no longer had to live in a house with her alcoholic father.

What Beth had said to Merle about Carol was true - at least she believed it to be, anyway - and although she had really just meant her words in a light-hearted way, her sentences seemed to have had the completely opposite effect on the older Dixon brother.

Merle chose not to meet her gaze for a couple of minutes, staying completely silent on the matter now - all of his teasing words and his loud laughter gone in an instant - and instead of opening his mouth to give her a quick comment back about Carol, Merle simply bowed his head and stared at his plate for a long moment. The expression on his face was almost thoughtful, like he was mulling over something important in his head, and then it seemed as though the spell that he had been under was broken when he gave a shrug of his shoulders and began to wolf down his food.

After that, Merle quickly changed the subject of their conversation, and Beth happily complied.

The young woman chose not to mention his strange behaviour to Daryl out of fear that she really was nosing around in something that was absolutely none of her business, but that night as she made her way up to the bedroom that she shared with her husband, she walked past the guest room that Merle was staying in. The blonde had been just about to knock on the door to check on her brother in law and make sure that he was alright when she couldn't help but to overhear the sound of the headboard of his bed repeatedly hitting against the walls, and just seconds later came the muffled sound of a woman's cries piercing through the air - a woman who sounded incredibly like Carol - coming from behind the door.

Frozen to the spot, Beth's light blue eyes went wider than ever before as she realised what it was that she was overhearing, and the thought of Merle and Carol having intercourse quickly invaded her imagination. The thought alone made the young woman shudder - which Beth felt slightly guilty for - and her cheeks were practically on fire as Beth rushed away from the door as quickly as possible, wasting no time at all in getting as far away from Merle's room as she possible could.

That would probably be the last time that she went to check up on her brother in law.

* * *

Her stomach was getting rounder by the day and it was something that Beth quickly learned that Daryl loved to touch. Whenever he was embracing her, his hands seemed to be resting upon the swell of her belly, his fingers and thumbs trailing lines across the skin there affectionately. Ever since she had broken the news to him that she was pregnant, her husband had behaved like this, and now that they were starting to be able to feel little flutters against their hands - not proper kicks, but definitely getting there - it seemed as though his need to touch her stomach as much as possible had increased even more.

Whilst Daryl seemed to love her swollen belly, Beth definitely did not. The blonde loved the fact that she was able to carry her husband's child and she adored the knowledge that her baby truly was a part of her, but she still couldn't help but hate her appearance. It wasn't just her stomach that was changing; her face was rounder than it had been before, too, and her feet were starting to feel incredibly sore and swollen. It seemed as though being with child was nowhere near as wonderful as Beth had thought that it would be.

She blamed those silly novels that she had read when she was a child.

"I won't be allowed out of the house soon," Beth mumbled as she lay in bed with her husband, her back pressed firmly against his chest and his arm draped over her waist, the palm of his hand pressed flat against her stomach.

From their position, Beth was unable to see his expression, but she could practically hear him frowning behind her as he moved slighly so that he was pressed impossibly more against her body. "Wha'?" he grunted, moving his head so that his chin rested on top of her hair. "Of course you are."

Shaking her head from side to side, Beth let out a little sigh. "No, I'm not," she informed him, trying her best to stop herself from pouting.

From behind her Daryl cleared his throat and Beth could tell by his tone that he wasn't exactly happy with the information that she was giving to him. This happened to her sometimes - regularly, actually - her moods would just come and go, change in extreme ways. One second she was happy and then the next she wanted to cry; one minute she was furious with him and the next minute she was making love to him.

Her behaviour was driving him crazy and Beth knew it, but her husband was always patient with her. Always calm and quiet and trying his best to be understanding.

After all, she was carrying his child.

"An' why's that?" he asked her, and Beth just shrugged her shoulders in response.

"I'm getting fat," she said with a heavy sigh when Daryl gently prodded her in the ribs in an attempt to encourage her to continue on with an explanation.

Her words had _him_ sighing now. "You ain't," he told her, his tone not giving her much room to argue with him. "You're gonna be birthin' _my_ child. You _ain't_ fat."

Her husbadn was right, of course. Beth knew that in her heart. Sometimes she didn't really hate her body all that much - not when she knew what it was doing, the miracle that was happening inside of her, the beautiful way in which their union had come to make a life. Still, there were other times - times like these - when insecurities plagued her, and Beth couldn't help but miss her slender body and her flat stomach and her thinner face.

At least her hair seemed to be much thicker now, at least.

Clearing her throat, Beth shook her head slightly from where it sat beneath his chin. "Going outside," she murmured, one of her hands moving down so that it was resting over where his was still pressed flat against her belly. "Once I'm larger, it's not proper, and I -"

"I don't give a shit about any o' that," Daryl said, his words practically growled down her ear. Once again, his tone left basically no room for her to argue against his point. "You ain't stayin' in this house all the time like some locked up princess, girl. So get that outta your head."

Not knowing what to say back to her husband, Beth chose to swallow down the lump in her throat and hold back the tears that were welling in her eyes.

"I love you," she said, her voice practically a whisper into the darkness of their bedroom.

It wasn't as if the two of them had never confessed their love for each other before, but it wasn't as though they said it to each other often, either. Those were words that didn't need to be said much at all; not when Daryl showed her how much he loved her every single day, in the way that he ran his hands over her stomach or the way that he kissed her even when the workers were in the room.

Beth hoped that she showed him just how much that she loved him every day, too; even if she was feeling completely out of herself now that she was pregnant.

Daryl's lips pressed down on the back of her head, his body never moving away from her own. "An' I love you, girl," he murmured, waiting until her breathing was even until he fell asleep himself.


	23. Chapter 23

"You're going to be a daddy."

The words had escaped from her lips before Beth had even really noticed that she had been thinking them and from where her husband sat directly across from her at the long dinner table, he looked to be slightly amused and perhaps a little bit confused by her sudden statement. Daryl's deep blue eyes fluttered over her deadly serious (and ever so slightly flustered) expression before the very corner of his mouth twitched upwards.

Not at all missing a beat as he moved so swiftly and casually, too, the master of the house wiped at his smirking lips with the napkin that had been placed in his lap whilst the two had eaten their meals and once he had finished, Daryl placed the now dirty napkin on the empty plate in front of him. Immediately afterwards, Daryl let out a sigh - although it wasn't necessarily one that indicated he was tired or annoyed or anything of the sort - and sat himself backwards in his chair, slouching against the back of it as he smirked over at his wife.

"You've only just realised?" he retorted in response to her statement.

The smirk that Beth had grown accustomed to never disappeared from his lips as he spoke, and his wife could tell just from the tone of voice that he was using that Daryl was being playful with her in that moment. Nevertheless, Beth just rolled her eyes, attempting to feign vague annoyance and some disinterest in the hopes that she could appear to be not all that amused by her husband's sarcastic response.

In the months that the pair had been married to one another, Beth had learned that her husband had a tendency to say lots of things that deeply amused her and caused her to laugh, but achieving such a reaction from her often caused Daryl's head to swell. For that reason, Beth tried her best to keep control of her laughter and to tone down just how funny she really did find him.

Well, most of the time, anyway. It wasn't to say that her attempts to control her bubbling laughter always worked.

It appeared as though Daryl could see straight through her intentions, however, and the older man let out a low chuckled before he pushed himself upright from where he had been sat so comfortably in his chair. Within just a few seconds her husband was standing directly beside where Beth was still sat in perfect posture, one of his tanned hands stretching out towards her invitingly.

One of her brows cocked at the motion and Beth stayed completely still for a couple of seconds before she stopped herself from holding back the smile that had been desperate to creep onto her face and the younger woman placed her much smaller and much paler hand in his. Beth allowed Daryl to help her stand up on her feet and whilst there was a part of her that almost wanted to tell him that she could get up out of a chair just fine by herself, but she quickly pushed such thoughts away.

After all, it would be very ungrateful of her to discourage her husband from being affectionate and helpful towards her, especially considering the fact that she was pregnant with his child. Some of the workers with whom she had spoken to had expressed their pleasant surprise at just how well Daryl was tending to his wife, and there had been a few times where the lady of the house had thought that the other women had been practically swooning over her husband.

It wasn't as though Beth had ever had a husband of her own before so she could hardly be certain about how men were expected to behave towards their wives whilst they were with child, but the blonde had a feeling that the way that Daryl was tending to her wasn't the way that all men behaved towards their own wives.

It was something that Beth expected her own father had done to her mother; despite the fact that Hershel Greene had not been the kindest of father's towards his daughter's in the end, Beth knew that he had loved their mother something fierce and before she had passed he had been the best father that a young woman could have asked for. It wasn't as though Beth could ask anyone whether or not her father had doted on her mother whilst she was pregnant, though - not considering the fact that Maggie was still behaving very childishly towards her younger sibling, anyway.

"Would you like to accompany me on a walk of the grounds?" Daryl asked, breaking Beth out of her chain of thoughts. Shaking her head slightly, Beth rose to her feet with the assistance of her husband and the pretty blonde simply nodded her head up and down in response.

* * *

It was with a heavy heart that Beth stood at the front door of the house and watched her husband bid goodbye to his older brother.

After almost sixteen and a half days had passed since his arrival to their extravagant home in Georgia, it appeared as though the time had finally come for Merle Dixon to complete his visit. Out of everyone with whom she had spoken to - including Carol - it appeared that it was actually Beth who seemed to be the most surprised about his sudden departure.

When Beth had asked Daryl about his opinion on the matter (because she couldn't believe that Merle would honestly just up and leave with barely a moments notice, especially considering the relationship that he had sparked with Carol), her husband had just let out a heavy sigh and had gently informed her that this was _just what Merle does._

According to Daryl, Merle came and Merle stayed and then Merle left - it was what he had always done and what he always did and what he would always do. The older of the two Dixon's would most likely not bother to write or to visit for another few months and then out of nowhere he would just appear and stick around for a short while before the whole process started again. At least that was how things worked between the two of them in Daryl's opinion.

Apparantly, this was just a bad habit that Merle had developed over time and it usually only occured whenever the older of the two brother's needed some assistance with an issue. When Beth had opened her mouth to ask what on earth someone like Merle could need help with (it just surprised her mostly because of the fact that Merle seemed to be the sort of person who was naturally in control of everything around him), Daryl had hung his head and looked at the floor and shrugged his shoulders, barely even grunting in response.

Of course it was more than obvious to the young blonde that her husband knew a lot about the sorts of things that Merle Dixon would be in urgent need of help with, but it was also clear to her that Daryl did not want to share that sort of information with her. Whilst Beth was curious about the truth - goodness, it was more than in her nature to be that way - she was also intelligent enough to know that right now was not the time to press any more about the issue.

It wasn't as though it was extremely important; after all, it was a matter that could be discussed at a later date.

Over the course of the last two weeks, Beth had bonded well with her brother-in-law - something which her husband had most definitely not expected, even if he had not bothered to share his thoughts about that with her. It was more than evident to Beth how he felt about it considering the fact that every time Beth caught Daryl watching her as she interacted with his older brother there was surprise and something akin to amusement in his usually composed expression.

Despite the fact that the two of them were very, very different men, it was still easy enough for Beth to get along with Merle, and the young woman hardly struggled to hold a conversation with him. But whilst Merle Dixon was loud and crass and confident, he never exposed all that much about himself as one would expect of someone with such qualities.

Instead, Beth found that whilst she had most definitely gotten along well with Merle and that they had both had a lot of fun during the time that they had spent in one another's company, she really didn't know all that much about her brother-in-law, and she especially didn't know even half as much about him as she expected that she would have done by this point in his visit.

It wasn't a surprise (at least not to Beth) that Merle embraced his sister-in-law warmly and that he placed a gentle kiss to her forehead, too. Whilst Daryl was always affectionate with Beth whenever the two of them were alone together, the blonde had learned early on in their relationship that he did not enjoy putting his emotions on display for everyone in their home to see.

It was a quality that Beth most definitely respected about her husband - after all, she wasn't too sure she would enjoy it if his hands were always wandering across her body even in front of guests and workers, but his brother was most definitely the opposite of Daryl when it came to showcasing affection.

"You take care o'yourself, blondie," Merle said, both of his hands resting on Beth's shoulders and his light blue eyes bore directly into her own.

As someone who had never really enjoyed saying goodbye to anyone, Beth nodded her head up and down, unsure of what to say at all to her brother-in-law. As far as in-law's went, Beth thought that Merle was a good one, and whilst she understood that he may not have been the most mature man that she knew of, he was certainly nice enough towards her.

"An' my niece or nephew," he continued, pushing himself backwards from her and allowing his arms to fall by his sides. "You let 'em know that Uncle Merle will be visiting them soon enough."

A small giggle escaped Beth's lips and she smiled happily, nodding her head more enthusiastically this time. "Of course," she said, tucking a piece of her light hair behind her ear. "I'll be sure to write to you once he or she arrives."

Nodding his own head, Merle seemed to approve of Beth's answer.

Once she had murmured her final words of goodbye to Merle, Beth took a step backwards and allowed her husband to escort his older brother towards the carriage that he would be leaving in, and within just a few more minutes the horse was pulling it further and further away from the house.

After sharing a long look with her husband - the way his deep eyes burned into her own almost had Beth holding her breath - Beth chose to edge closer and closer towards him on the porch until she was finally stood directly in front of him. "Are you okay?" Beth asked, her voice low as her light blue eyes scanned over his face.

With one single nod of his head, Daryl let out a low sigh. "Yeah," he breathed. "Yeah. 'M alright. Jus' tired, I guess."

It was quiet between the two of them for a few seconds after Daryl had spoken and the older man looked down at his wife with an expression of something close to confusion, but Beth shrugged that off and chose to ignore it. Slowly, the young blonde stepped closer towards her husband and then wrapped her arms around his waist, tucking the top of her head neatly underneath his chin as she held him closely.

The steady rhythm of his heart could be heard beating from inside of his chest and Beth couldn't help but smile at the sound, her eyes fluttering to a close as she inhaled deeply. "I hate goodbye's," she said, her voice almost a whisper as she continued to embrace him.

When Beth had initially wrapped her arms around Daryl, he had immediately tensed up at the unexpected contact, but after Beth spoke out his upper body physically relaxed and Beth felt his shoulders sag. With a low sigh, Daryl moved his hands so that they were placed on her elbows, and whilst her husband was evidently still a little uncomfortable with the fact that they were embracing outside their home where any of their workers could see them, Beth found that she could hardly worry about anything of the sort in that moment.

After what felt like it could have been hours had passed between them, Beth unwrapped her arms from around Daryl's waist and took a small step back so that she could look up at him. "We should go upstairs," she said, her eyes never leaving from his own.

At her words, Daryl frowned slightly. "It's the middle of the afternoon," he said, evidently confused. Not sure of what to say in response to that, Beth smirked slightly before she stood up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against Daryl's.

"Yeah," she breathed after she broke the kiss. "It is."

Her lips met with his again and it was only when her tongue probed against his own that Daryl seemed to understand what it was that Beth had been suggesting to him. At his sudden realisation, her husband broke their kiss and smirked back down at her, a nod of his head the only response that she needed before Beth broke out into a fit of giggles and began to lead the way back inside, heading straight towards their bedroom.


	24. Chapter 24

**OK, so I'm really sorry this took so long. Life just sort of... happened, but I'll try to start updating this story at least once a week. The same also goes for my other unfinished fics.**

 **You might notice that there's some little time jumps in this story from now on between chapters but that's just to push this fic along as I don't want to drag it out too much. And please ignore any silly mistakes I've made in this - I've written it all within the space of one hour straight from my mobile during one of my lectures and haven't had time to proof read as I wanted to get it out ASAP since you've all waited so long, so... yeah.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Beth blinked her doe eyes up at the pale ceiling and tried her best to only concentrate on her breathing instead of the uncomfortable pressure that she felt between her legs whilst the doctor performed an internal examination on her. If she thought that she had been big before then she was most definitely humongous right now; her stomach was protruding so much that lying down on the large couch in one of the large rooms on the ground floor of her house, she couldn't even see her feet.

Covered with purple and blue veins along with marks that looked as though she had been swiped at by a lion (Carol said that they were actually caused by her skin stretching to accommodate her unborn child), it was safe to say that Beth wasn't feeling at her best at the moment. It wasn't appropriate for her husband to be present in the room during an appointment such as this one, but on this occasion, Daryl had been absolutely adamant that he would be entering the room to discuss the doctor's general opinion and his thoughts after the examination.

In all fairness, Beth wasn't even sure whether or not she would actually want her husband to be present during a time when she was being internally examined by Dr S. Being intimate with Daryl in the privacy of their bedroom was one thing when she felt so insecure about her body, but the idea of him being here in the room and actually watching something like this happen - well, the thought almost made her shudder right then and there.

Instead, the expectant mother winced when the doctor probed his equipment at her cervix a little too harshly and she couldn't help but feel a wave of relief rush over her entire body when he removed his equipment from inside of her and snapped off the glove that he had been wearing to cover one of his hands. As he placed the equipment on the nearby desk, Beth caught sight of some blood at the end of it and the doctor must have noticed the way that her eyes dramatically widened as she pushed herself up so that she was resting on her elbows.

"Not to worry," he said, cocking his head slightly in the direction of the tool. "Blood is to be expected and is perfectly normal when you're being examined this way. I'd be concerned if you _didn't_ bleed," he explained, and Beth let out a slow breath as she nodded her head to indicate to him that she understood.

It was awkward for a long few seconds until the doctor finally offered Beth an empathetic smile before he diverted his attention away from her, turning his body round in a movement that most definitely lacked any subtlety. He reached down and began to rummage around in the large bag that he had brought with him, giving Beth the opportunity to pull down her skirts so that they once again fell at her feet and neaten herself up before her husband entered the room.

When Beth was satisfied with her appearance, she cleared her throat almost awkwardly from behind where the doctor stood, now on her feet with her hands clasped together in front of her. Dr S turned himself around slowly so that he was facing her before he gave her a sharp nod. "I'll call for your husband," he informed her before he moved himself towards the door, however it turned out that he needn't go that far at all because as soon as he opened the wooden door, Daryl marched straight through.

Daryl's deep blue eyes were what Beth considered to be wider than she had ever seen before as he peered around the room almost frantically, his shoulders only sagging and his posture only relaxing when the two of them finally locked eyes with each other. Feeling a little bit overwhelmed from her examination - the doctor had mentioned to her beforehand that it was perfectly normal to experience some sickness and pain afterwards - Beth couldn't find any energy within her to do much else than to offer her husband a small smile.

Not wasting any time at all, he practically bounded over to her and reached out for her hand, not seeming to care that the two of them had company right now. Instead, Daryl placed his free hand on her hip and guided her over towards one of the other chairs in the room - not the couch that she had been examined on just a few minutes before, thankfully - and he waited until she had sat herself down and was comfortable in her seat before he turned around to face Dr S.

Just as Daryl went to open his mouth, one of the newest workers in the house entered the room carrying a tray that held a large jug of water and a pot of tea along with several cups. Dr S thanked the young woman as she placed the tray down on the desk and Beth offered her a soft smile, but Daryl seemed to be completely uninterested by her presence. Beth didn't account this as something that was normal behaviour for her husband - who was generally quite polite to all of the workers in the house - and thought to herself that it was a reflection of his genuine concern over this appointment.

It hadn't taken her much time to realise that Daryl had a tendency to be a _little_ bit over-protective of her.

"Everything seems to be perfectly normal," the doctor commented once Daryl sat himself down next to Beth, running his palms up and down over his thighs several times before he leaned back into his seat. The doctor poured himself some water and swallowed down several large gulps before he spoke again. "I think that it would make sense for us to begin to prepare for the birth of your child within the next thirty days."

"Will you be staying with us?" Daryl asked, answering the question that Beth had been wanting to ask.

Nodding his head, the doctor took another long gulp of his water - draining the whole glass - before he placed it down in front of him. "If that's what you want," the doctor said, seeming to be a little unsure, but Daryl nodded his head firmly.

"Of course," Daryl said, sure of himself from his tone of voice, but he eyed Beth from the side before he cleared his throat and fully looked in her direction. "You want the doctor to stay here?" he then said, his voice lower than it had been, but Beth knew that the doctor could still hear him perfectly fine.

Blushing slightly from the intensity of his gaze, Beth simply nodded her head at her husband to answer his question. For a couple of seconds longer, Daryl continued to stare straight into Beth's light blue eyes, but he eventually seemed satisfied and broke their gaze to look back at the doctor. "I'll arrange for you to have a room."

Smiling, Dr S reached forward and shook Daryl's hand. "That sounds wonderful," the doctor said, offering the couple a genuine smile. "Now - we need to discuss the birthing process."

* * *

Letting out a heavy and exhausted sigh, Beth dropped the light pink silk night dress that she had been wearing just moments before so that it pooled around the marble floor. Carol had helped her take out her hair just an hour or so ago - it had been pinned up for her appointment with the doctor - and she now felt much more at ease with her long hair flowing freely down her back.

The water in the bath had cooled down somewhat since it had been poured and one of the women had called for her to let her know that it was ready for her. Beth had wasted no time in making her way into the bathroom that was attached to the bedroom that she shared with her husband, and as soon as the door had been closed behind her, Beth had stripped herself and edged towards the tub which sat in the centre of the room.

Despite the fact that she had been told the water was cool, Beth dipped one of her hands into the tub just to confirm that it was indeed the right temperature. Not long ago, Carol had warned her to be careful when bathing as water that was too hot could possibly be harmful to her unborn child, and ever since then Beth had made sure that her bath water was always at a perfect temperature.

Water sloshed over the sides of the tub and drenched the floor below it as Beth carefully entered the tub, gripping the sides of it tightly with her hands as she sank down into the water. Usually, one of the women would help her with the task of bathing, but in recent weeks Beth had requested that nobody assist her when it was time to bathe. The idea of being completely exposed to any of the women in the house when she looked like _this_ was something that absolutely horrified Beth, and she would much rather take a little bit longer by bathing alone instead of being quicker because she had assistance.

The scent of lavender was heavy in the air and the water was incredibly soothing against her sore skin. As her pregnancy progressed, it seemed as though her whole body was turning against her - her ankles were swollen and the soles of her feet were blistered and painfully hard, the muscles in her back were tight and knotted and the tension in her shoulders was at times excruciating. All in all, pregnancy was definitely not glamorous, but Beth reminded herself of what it was that her body was doing and how she should be happy as long as her unborn child was healthy and well.

The young woman was indeed exhausted and her eyes had fluttered to a close almost as soon as she had rested her neck against the back of the tub so that her chin was just above the water, and it must have only been a matter of seconds before she drifted off because the next thing that Beth knew, she was being awoken by the sound of Daryl's rough voice breaking through the silence.

Her eyes flung open almost dramatically at the sound of her name being called and she sat up quickly in the tub, causing the water to splash over the sides of the tub once again. Beth's heart was accelerating quickly in her chest and her light eyes locked on the sight of her husband standing in the middle of the doorway to the bathroom, wearing his nightclothes and a concerned look upon his face.

"You alrigh'?" he asked her, the frown on his face more prominent as he entered the room. Beth calmed herself down and couldn't help but think about how she was incredibly thankful that Daryl had awoken her before the water in the tub had turned cold, as the last thing that Beth wanted (or needed) at this stage in her pregnancy was to come down with a cold; or perhaps something even more sinister, had she not been careful.

Nodding her head up and down in response to her husband's question, Beth stifled a yawn as she tried to push herself to a standing position in the bath, intending to get out of the water before she fell asleep once again. Her fingertips were hardly effected by the water which hinted to Beth that she had not been bathing for all that long (usually, her hands were like prunes after twenty minutes or so) but she couldn't shake the feeling that it was going to be impossible to relax herself in the tub once again.

Her husband seemed to think differently, however, and almost immediately, Daryl was by Beth's side. The older man was crouching down beside the tub and the blonde thought to herself about how he must surely be standing on the wet patch of the floor, but her husband didn't seem to care much for that at all.

Gently, one of Daryl's large hands moved towards her and rested on her shoulder, the difference between her incredibly pale skin and his much more tanned evident when he put his hands on her like this. Her husband was not a man who worked out in the sun and so it was only normal that he wasn't that effected by the sunlight, but his skin still had much more colour than her own did.

Beth didn't try and fight Daryl's movements as he guided her body so that she was leaning against the back of the tub once again, now in the same position that she had fallen asleep in. "Stay," he murmured to her, his voice soft yet commanding at the same time as his dark eyes wandered all over her facial features.

Blinking slowly, Beth turned her head so that she was able to face him, their eyes burning into one another's when Daryl finally met her gaze. Too tired to do anything else, Beth allowed a small smile to take over her lips, still enjoying the feel of his hand - which had not left her shoulder this whole time - as his thumb brushed up and down against her skin.

It was during little moments like this that Beth couldn't help but still be amazed about the fact that not even that long ago, the two of them had been complete strangers. A time when Daryl had just been a man that her father had wanted her to marry in order to clear up his own debt, a man that Beth had been more than uninterested in. She had been so stubborn in herself; certain that this arranged marriage was not what she ever wanted, and Beth had been so furious at her father for pushing her in the same direction that he had done with her older sister.

Now, though; Beth couldn't help but to be more than thankful towards her father for arranging this marriage in the first place. In time, the intentions of both of the men had unravelled – Daryl's strictly business whilst her father's was more in selfish desperation – but knowing the contract that had been signed between the two of them didn't make Beth love her husband any less.

The intentions of Daryl didn't bother her because in reality, it would have been very naïve of her to assume that a wealthy, foreign businessman who had travelled lands that Beth could only dream of (and that she couldn't even pronounce) wanted to marry her purely for… well, nothing. It wasn't even as though he had ever laid eyes upon her, so not even lust could be to blame.

However, Beth still was infuriated at her father's intentions. Of course she understood that he had felt as though he had no other choice; but _still,_ it was anything but Beth's fault that Hershel Greene had drank and gambled his estate away after Annette's death. If he would have simply explained the situation to her then Beth felt as though she would have most likely been much more accepting of everything – frustrated still, yes, but nowhere near as angry as she still was.

Despite all of her underlying feelings towards her alcoholic father and his actions, this was all still down to him. Without his greed and his selfishness and without even his drinking problem, it would never have been possible for her to marry this wonderful man.

The man that she honestly believed was her soul mate.

Daryl's hand trailed up from where it had been resting on Beth's shoulder so that it now cupped her jaw, his thumb moving back and forth over the lower part of her cheek as he did so. Naturally, Beth leaned further into her husband's touch, a soft smile still gracing her features.

"I feel so _sore,_ " Beth breathed out as she nuzzled further against his palm.

Her light blue eyes were downcast as though she was embarrassed by her admission, and truthfully, part of her was. It was her duty as a wife to carry her husband's child and as much as she didn't want to admit it out loud, Beth was struggling – especially as her pregnancy came towards its end.

Leaning forward, Daryl placed a lingering kiss to her forehead – causing Beth to flutter her eyelids shut and let out a content sigh – before he pushed himself backwards. His much darker eyes instantly found hers.

"I know, baby girl," he said with a sigh of his own, his thumb continuing with its motions of stroking her cheek. "You don't know how much I 'ppreciate what you're doin', though."

Despite the seriousness of Daryl's tone, Beth couldn't help herself but to cock a brow and let out a soft giggle at his words. "What I'm _doin'?_ " Beth questioned, a sense of playfulness evident from the teasing tone of her voice.

Nodding his head once, Daryl smirked a little bit, too. "Mmhmm. You're carryin' _my_ child," he said, stressing the word as though she needed reminding who it was that had got her pregnant.

Kneading her brows together, Beth cocked her head to one side slightly, although Daryl's hand didn't move away from her face as she did so. "I am?" she asked sarcastically, waiting a second or two with a pensive look upon her face before she beamed up at him.

Rolling his eyes, Daryl grumbled something inaudible before he leaned forward once more, catching her lips in a chaste kiss this time. "Should hope so," he said, and Beth just laughed in response.

Daryl stayed with her for a few minutes more, talking absently with her and listening intently as she informed him thoroughly about what had happened with the doctor before he entered the room. Daryl didn't look too thrilled to hear about the ways in which the doctor had examined her, but he had seemed eager enough to know what it was that he had missed, so Beth didn't necessarily feel all too bad about going into it all.

After all, things could have been explained to her husband in much more detail, had she wanted them to be.

"C'mon," Daryl finally said, standing up straight and holding his arms out to her. "Let's get you out of there before you turn into a prune."

Laughing lightly at his comment, Beth pushed herself upwards and interlaced their fingers, allowing her husband to help her as she exited the bath. There was something so simply _intimate_ about being naked in front of Daryl this way; in a manner that was completely innocent, relaxed and comfortable, not just because one (or both) of them had sexual intentions.

Once Beth had wrapped a towel around her body and had wrapped up her hair so that it rested on top of her head, she followed Daryl into the warm space of their bedroom and she suddenly found herself to be incredibly relieved that he had lit the fire before he had come to find her in the bathroom.

Neither of them said much more to each other that night - both of them seeming to be exhausted by the long day that they'd had - but Beth felt much more relaxed when she closed her eyes to sleep. With Daryl's arms wrapped around her and one of his hands resting on her stomach, not even the frequent kicking of their unborn child (who seemed to be much more active at night time) could keep her awake.

* * *

 **As always, thanks for reading - and to all of the new readers of this story... Hi! I promise I won't take as long to update next time!**


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